Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
Just last week I was mentioning my perplexion (it’s a word … look it up) at Samsung’s Galaxy Camera and how ridiculous it was, but that if somehow the product was from Apple it would have been hailed as a turning point in the public perception of what portable digital cameras were and what they could do. Now this week we hear that Apple is in fact looking to expand into a market outside its perceived wheelhouse, but instead of cameras, it’s looking at the watch market.
That’s right, watches.
Word on the street is that there will soon be people lining up for weeks just to buy a watch. I can only guess that the “watch” clientele will be a little more “high brow” than what we normally see from the samrtphone/tablet crowd, and thus I expect to see much nicer tents with built in showers and smoking lounges. Or at least we can hope for that.
Don’t get me wrong. Watches are pretty sweet devices and in fact I myself am the proud owner of several. But, is this really the next high-tech market? I am sure Apple will have some swell technology to enhance the “watch watching” experience, but how do you really improve on what seems to be pretty much nailed down?
I know things are looking a bit dour for Apple at the moment, what with its stock price nearly collapsing to only $450 per share and with its manhood in the smartphone space being questioned. But, has it fallen so far that somewhere spit-balled “watches” at a meeting, and someone responded “yeah, watches.”
Come on Apple. You are better than this. The watch market just seems like a step back, no? Why not tackle something more forward looking like blenders, or ice cube makers or public restrooms? You know, something that is already awesome, but with a bit of Apple magic could be made super awesome.
This is not to suggest that Apple’s watch venture won’t turn out awesome, and if this does indeed come to pass we won’t be seeing hordes of people that just need to know exactly what time it is at all times lining up for this iWatch. But, you already know that when said product does launch there will also be hordes of people lining up to complain that their new Apple watch only shows the time in Cupertino, Calif., or that the battery life stinks or that it works better on their left wrist instead of their right wrist.
All I can suggest is that if Apple is really serious about this whole time piece initiative, may I suggest that they take a different tack and do something no one really expects. I say go big. I mean, really big.
Now, that would be something worth watching.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–I gotta say, of all the billionaires that I know (and that would be exactly zero) I think my favorite this month has to be Dish Networks Chairman Charlie Ergen. Not only is that man Richard Branson-rich, he also appears to be going Richard Branson-crazy. (Though, not having that whole “Sir” thing in front of his name does place Charlie one notch down on the billionaire org chart.)
Just this week, Ergen noted that while Dish is still very interested in joining the ranks of wireless operators, he is also open to just selling off the vast spectrum assets Dish spent years trying to secure. Nothing beats a billionaire with a short attention span.
–BroadSoft recently released a global survey of worker attitudes toward mobile unified communications, showing that users are not just willing to adopt UC solutions, but demanding them. Demanding! You know you have rankled the masses when they begin demanding something as important as UC solutions.
The survey seemed serious all the way up to the point where it found that 76% of respondents would be “very keen” or “somewhat keen” to adopt UC solutions.
Really? “Very keen” or “somewhat keen?” Was “bees knees” or “Bobs your uncle” not an option?
I welcome your comments. Please send me an email at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter?
