Hey Tim Cook, you made a micro spinner!

[Le Chuck]

Watching the Apple Watch unveiling speech.  "Digital crown, translates rotary movement into digital data...you don't have to understand that," totally started laughing at that because I'm in this harebrained hobby and spend way too much time thinking about how to turn rotary movement into digital data lol. 

So apple watch.  Who all is in line already?  Who is waiting for the second or third version.  Not an early adopter myself, Ipad2 destroyed Ipad.  Just saying. 

[pbj]

Watches are obsolete.  I'm predicting mega flop but who knows.

[Le Chuck]

The fact that it isn't a standalone gps capable of fitness tracking without being actively tethered is ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---. I can get $40 watches off fleabay that do that. That and the likely abysmal battery life. If it was good they would have talked about it.

[drventure]

I for one can't wait to play a tiny micro tempest cab made with one of those crowns that someone yanked out of a busted iWatch

[Vigo]

Watching the Apple Watch unveiling speech.

iYawned

[Malenko]

iYawned

Ha!  iLaughed

[Le Chuck]

iYawned

Ha!  iLaughed

iFapped









iNappropriate. iSorry.

[danny_galaga]

The watch had it's moment- the 20th century. I like them, but just as watches.

I must confess my ignorance. Is it a phone as well? Like Dick Tracy? That would be kinda cool, but cool enough to sell heaps of?

[jennifer]

    Jenns Rolex is supposed to last like 80 years, (And its waterproof).... So Im Just going to have to pass on this one.

[Vigo]

The watch had it's moment- the 20th century. I like them, but just as watches.

I must confess my ignorance. Is it a phone as well? Like Dick Tracy? That would be kinda cool, but cool enough to sell heaps of?

I think they already have those watches with Android, and they proved to be a fad. The apple watch sounds like you can use it as a phone, but it also sounds like they want you to send each other squiggles drawings and (aww!) your heartbeat to other watch owners instead. Probably meaning, it will suck as a phone. Most of the useful functions on the iWatch are the equivalent of putting a wriststrap on an ipod nano.

[dkersten]

Nothing Apple released is greater than 2013 technology.. they went from being innovative, to leading the technology field, to competing with the flagship androids, to playing catch-up, all in 5 years.. Innovation for innovation's sake is seldom a good philosophy to base a business model on.  Apple managed to do it for a few years, but their time is passed, and people are starting to demand useful features.  This prompted Apple to step up to last years technology and the best "innovation" they were able to come up with was a dial on a "watch" nobody is going to even use.  But hey, you can use it to pay for stuff, if.. uh.. you can find a store that supports it.

[Slippyblade]

.. they went from being innovative, to leading the technology field, to competing with the flagship androids, to playing catch-up, all in 5 years..

I can't think of a time in the past decade at least where Apple was innovative.  Seriously.

[dkersten]

I am no apple fan but I have to admit where they did some revolutionary things in the past decade.  The iphone was thinner with a better screen and better tech than anything anyone had seen, but furthermore it was just as much "form" as it was "function".  Nobody else had anything even close to compete with it in terms of a "modern day" smartphone.  Then the ipod touch was very innovative, using a full touch interface on an MP3 player.  Then the ipad, which was thinner and lighter than anyone thought possible at the time, outside of sci-fi movies.  Not only that, but they were using status as a marketing philosophy, and it changed the way people looked at personal electronics

Very little of what they did was 100% unique, but they were able to come to market with the right combination of technology long before anyone else had it all in one package.  That is innovation.  And by creating demand where there wasn't much demand by making technology a status and popularity symbol to the masses (not just the technology geeks), they skyrocketed to the top of the ladder.

The problem is they have relied on what was accomplished years ago to continue to push overpriced and underperforming technology to the masses of fans, and those fans are so deeply invested in their products that they don't know how to change to something better, and couldn't afford to if they did know.  Their form is no longer unique and groundbreaking, their technology is no longer cutting edge, their function is no longer the most intuitive or the most popular, and their services are no longer the only choice for an all inclusive package.  All they have left is the fans who will someday realize that they didn't have to spend $399 (with a 2 year contract) to get a 5.5" smartphone that pushes the boundaries of technology, form, and function.  The iWatch (or whatever they are calling it) is an effort to create demand where there isn't demand, and people aren't so thirsty for stuff like this any more, so it will fall flat and fail.  Maybe if they had done it a year ago before every technology company in the world had already brought wearable tech to market, but now it is old news, and only the die hard fans will buy into it.

[Slippyblade]

I'll give it to you that Jobs (not Apple) was a marketing genius.  But that's as far as I'll go.  The iPhone, iPod, etc were not innovative tech.  They were rehashes of existing tech that had features skimmed out and what remained was locked down to make it easier for the lowest common denominator to access.   There were two reasons they sold the way they did/do, the first is due to the lock down so they are nearly idiot proof and the second was the Personality Cult of Jobs.  Now that he's gone, Apple is simply a floater waiting to be flushed.  Frankly, due to the choke hold that Apple keeps on its products, I've always considered them a step backwards.  Then again, I've never been a fan of form over function.

[yotsuya]

Personally, I think the iPod is the greatest invention in the past 20 years. And I'm not an Apple lover at all, but I am a music lover.

[dkersten]

See, I see it the other way around.. I saw the ipod as recycled technology that was marketed well to people who bought based on popularity and not understanding of the technology or limitations.  BUT, when the iphone came out, it was half the thickness of any other smartphone out there, and the ONLY capacitive touch screen that worked worth a damn.  Keep in mind at the time Android was practically unknown (and techwise somewhat of a joke) and Blackberry was king of the smartphone market, and they didn't have anything like it.  Windows phones were years behind in technology and phone OS (I hated BB and had a windows phone, but frankly it was crap compared to the iphone). 

I can admit now that only my stubbornness and pride kept me from giving the iphone a chance in the beginning.  I saw it as a glorified ipod, which I hated.  But by the 3rd generation, Android was close to equal in tech and the OS was shaping up to be far better.  And iphone was still just barely ahead in tech (displays in particular), but their OS was oversimple and not conducive to business use, so in my book my hate for it was justified.  Now they are just playing catch-up and I no longer hate the iphone, I just laugh because it has proven that it is destined to just be a phone that people use because they see it as a status symbol (and are willing to pay a premium to have it). 

I have had a practically brand new iphone 5s in my drawer at work for over 8 months.  I refuse to let any employee use it because they are a nightmare as a business phone, and I don't want to hassle with selling it because Apple makes it a nightmare to transfer to someone else unless I knew the passwords for the last user (which I don't) even though my business owns the phone.. takes weeks to get Apple to release it and allow it to be reset.  So a $700 phone sits collecting dust.

[jimfath]

Watches are obsolete.  I'm predicting mega flop but who knows.

It's shiny, it's from Apple and, somewhere in America,  someone is already waiting in line for it right now. 

[yotsuya]

To be fair, I only buy the 160 GB iPod Classics. I don't need all the extra crap the iPod Touch provides. On the classic, the scroll wheel works perfectly, all the music I want on it fits... it's perfect.

And how much shipped for that iPhone, Dave? Since it's collecting dust, I'll trade you something for it.

[Vigo]

 

http://www.popmatters.com/post/185765-requiem-for-perfection-r.i.p.-ipod-classic/

[yotsuya]

http://www.popmatters.com/post/185765-requiem-for-perfection-r.i.p.-ipod-classic/

[SavannahLion]

I thought they got rid of ALL iPods?

[JimmyU]

I thought they got rid of ALL iPods?

Nope just the classic. The shuffle, nano and touch are still available though they're all long in the tooth now. The shuffle hasn't been updated in 4 years, the nano 2 years and the touch 2 years. That's a long time for consumer electronics.

[dkersten]

And how much shipped for that iPhone, Dave? Since it's collecting dust, I'll trade you something for it.

To be honest I am on the fence about selling it because my kids all like iphones and I am considering giving it to one of them, except they always break the screens, and I am hesitant to give them an expensive phone to break, lol.  I don't know, PM me an offer if you are really interested.  pristine unbroken unlocked Verizon 16gb 5s's are selling on ebay for around $450 this week.  I just don't want the hassle of having to get my original receipt from Verizon, contact Apple to unlock the software and allow a factory reset, and wait for a response, lol.  This is what I hate, it is my phone, but I can't reset it without Apple's permission (well, my business's phone, but same difference).  Last one took 3 weeks to get unlocked..

[yotsuya]

And how much shipped for that iPhone, Dave? Since it's collecting dust, I'll trade you something for it.

To be honest I am on the fence about selling it because my kids all like iphones and I am considering giving it to one of them, except they always break the screens, and I am hesitant to give them an expensive phone to break, lol.  I don't know, PM me an offer if you are really interested.  pristine unbroken unlocked Verizon 16gb 5s's are selling on ebay for around $450 this week.  I just don't want the hassle of having to get my original receipt from Verizon, contact Apple to unlock the software and allow a factory reset, and wait for a response, lol.  This is what I hate, it is my phone, but I can't reset it without Apple's permission (well, my business's phone, but same difference).  Last one took 3 weeks to get unlocked..

I'm on T-Mobile. Pass.

[SavannahLion]

I thought they got rid of ALL iPods?

Nope just the classic. The shuffle, nano and touch are still available though they're all long in the tooth now. The shuffle hasn't been updated in 4 years, the nano 2 years and the touch 2 years. That's a long time for consumer electronics.

Ah.... I see....

My wife asked me for a new iPod this year to replace her aging iPod. I dunno, I guess she has a "Classic" and a "Touch". The battery is borked in both, lasting fifteen minutes each, tops.

I keep trying to convince her to buy a couple of those battery kits and just let me do the repair but she refuses saying, "it's never going to be the same once you take it apart." 

"It's going to be useless if you don't take it apart," is usually my reply.

[SavannahLion]

Wow... looking at that stupid watch just gave me an idea for a pretty cool cabinet.
Damn it, another project to put on the back burner.....

[danny_galaga]

It needs to look like this