Ben Thompson: evaluation

Transcript context

…What’s the best thing it might possibly do for me? You’re excited about it, right? Why? I am excited about it because . . . Apple has always excelled. Apple has always been, at its heart, a personal computer company. Just what a personal computer is has changed over time. It used to be something on your desk. Then it was something in your bag. Then it was something in your pocket. That’s certainly the dominant form now. The idea of something on your wrist that is with you even more is something that’s very compelling and fits with a broad arc, the broad narrative, I think, of Apple. What could be done with something on your wrist that connects to a pair of AirPods in your ears? Or maybe there’s going to be something with augmented reality in the future. It’s hard to say. If you’re interested in the future and the way technology’s going, it’s inherently interesting. I think Apple struggled originally because they had the same supposition that this is inherently interesting, so let’s build it. And they didn’t know what it was for. They’ve really, over the last few years, honed in on a health and fitness angle, where this will help you with healthier, it will help you with exercise, be more active. Now they have the heart rate sensor and things like that. That’s a necessary step in why should you buy this product. I find it useful — I do have one — the notifications can be useful. Almost, actually, less of a distraction because you’re not pulling your phone out of your pocket. You’re just glancing — “That’s not important.” But at the end of the day, honestly, for me, I like the simple life as well, and charging something every day just drives me — one more thing every day — drives me up the wall, and being nervous about that. Also, I want to look at my wrist and see the time immediately, not have to wait for it to turn on or whatever. So I have very little, very small-scale objections to it, but that’s the thing: the closer something is to you, the more the small stuff really matters. Will Apple be the company that finally builds a workable, fun, comfortable version of Google Glass?…

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