Apple Now Creates Markets Before It Even Enters
I’ve written a lot about Apple’s ability to create new markets, which may be among its chief contributions to the world.
In several cases, from media players to multi-touch phones to tablets, others in the industry have tried to get a market going without success.Then Apple came along with a bold, killer information appliance and not only dominated the market, but created it.
I’ve notice a new trend lately: Now markets are being created based substantially on nothing more than the expectation that Apple will enter it with a killer product.
For example, Acer, AGENT, Androidly, Cookoo, Dell, EmoPulse, Foxconn, GEAK, Google, I’m Watch, Intel, Kreyos, LG, Martian, Metawatch, Microsoft, Pebble, Qualcomm, Rearden Technology, Samsung, Sonostar, Sony, Toshiba and Vachen are all in, will be in or will probably be in the smartwatch market, which has struggled for years to get off the ground as a mainstream category.
Why the sudden embrace by so many major companies? I think the reason is that everyone expects Apple to enter it, and by doing so create it. You’ll notice that the majority of press about smartwatches is about a rumored “iWatch” from Apple — a phantom product that Apple hasn’t announced or even discussed significantly in public.
It’s telling that a Google search for Apple iWatch (which has not been announced and does not exist) brings back more search results than Sony Smartwatch (which has existed for a long time and is on its second version). Such is the nature of Apple’s reputation.
For expensive items, the expectation that Apple will enter a market slows slows sales down because consumers hold off on buying until they find out what Apple is going to do. For example, Smart TV sales are probably artificially suppressed by the belief that Apple will announce an iTV some time in the next year or two.
In other cases, the demand Apple creates may be driving sales for competitive products. For example, I believe Apple created both the demand and the market for multi-touch tablets with the iPad. They were first to create widespread demand for retina displays with the iPhone. And they helped Android competitors drive demand for the 7-inch tablet with the iPad Mini.
In the minds of consumers, these mostly Apple-generated expectations and desires culminated in a very widespread demand for a Retina-quality iPad Mini, which many believe would be the perfect tablet and the one they really want. And I think that, to some degree, is sending sales of Google’s recently announced Nexus 7 tablet through the roof. (Android fans will scoff at this notion, but I personally know several people who were intending to wait for a Retina iPad mini who jumped ship and bought a Nexus 7).
A similar phenomenon may take place with the upcoming Sony Smartwatch 2, if it’s a better product than the first version. The same goes for other smartwatches that ship before Apple announces the assumed iWatch.
The ability of Apple to create markets before they enter them is a function, by the way, of three phenomena:
1. Apple’s great reputation. We saw this with the iPad. Before anyone had even seen it, people were already lining up to buy it. People expected Apple to ship a solid, elegant, beautiful device because of Apple’s previous products, and Apple delivered on that expectation.
2. The impossibility of keeping secrets. If Apple had it their way, nobody would be talking about the iWatch and iTV. But it’s impossible to build anything at Apple scale without involving numerous partners all over the world. At some point, people are going to leak and speculate, triggering multiple-source rumors.
3. The slow speed that Apple introduces products. I’m not sure if Apple is slower or if competitors are faster, but there’s a disparity. For example, why can Android companies ship retina-quality, 7-inch tablets so long before Apple does? Why is Sony on their second smartwatch when Apple hasn’t even hinted about a first one? Part or all of the answer may be that Apple tends to wait until technologies are fully baked before releasing its 1.0 products (see point #1). Part of the reason could be that Apple tends to ship at a vastly higher scale for 1.0 releases (see point #2). Or — worst case scenario — Apple has just gotten too slow for an accelerating industry.
Regardless, Apple is probably the only company capable of not only creating multiple markets, but creating markets before they even announce products for those markets.
I don’t see it as a problem. I still believe in this company’s ability to dominate with superior consumer products. When the iWatch, iTV and Retina iPad Mini finally ship, I predict they’ll quickly dominate the markets already in existence.
(Picture courtesy of Fuse Chicken.)
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/237489/apple-now-creates-markets-before-it-even-enters-them/#aTzvPUXq1rTL0jmH.99
Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac launches with OS X Mavericks, Windows 8.1 optimizations
Parallels has launched a new virtual PC program for Mac, Parallels Desktop 9, which allows users to run Windows and Mac applications simultaneously without the need to reboot.
New features include cloud storage optimization for iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive. The software also allows customers to use Mac OS X features like Launchpad inside Windows applications.
"Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac customers will enjoy peace of mind knowing that Parallels keeps pace with and supports leading new technologies, such as the upcoming OS X Mavericks, Windows 8.1 and increasingly popular cloud services," said Parallels CEO Birger Steen.
Parallels promise that Desktop 9 will deliver a 40 percent improvement in disk performance and a 25 percent speed increase for virtual machine startup and shutdown, compared to the previous version, as well as being able to suspend the virtual PC in up to 20 percent less time than before.
Current Parallels Desktop users can upgrade to Parallels Desktop 9 now for £34.99. For new customers, Parallels Desktop 9 will be available for purchase from 5 September for £64.95. A student edition will be available at the discounted price of £34.95.
Customers will also get a six-month subscription to the newly released Parallels Access for iPad application. The software allows customers to remotely access PC and Windows apps and use them as if they were made for iPad.
Another Smartwatch? Google Reportedly Acquired WIMM Labs
There might be another smartwatch on the horizon. Google has acquired wearable tech firm WIMM Labs, according to GigaOm.
"WIMM Labs not only gives Google the talent and technology to build a smartwatch, but actually an Android-based app platform tailored for consumers' wrists," the blog said.
The WIMM Labs website is currently offline, a move that apparently happened last year. For a time, wimm.com displayed a message that said it had "entered into an exclusive, confidential relationship for our technology," GigaOm said, but now it just returns a server error.
WIMM Labs debuted in 2011 and looked to take advantage of the emerging field of wearable tech. As PCMag found at the time, WIMM Labs had built an Android-based platform optimized for a small screen, as well as a small, modular hardware component with a 1.4-inch screen. WIMM suggested users could read email, check the weather, or even use your watch to pay for your Starbucks coffee.
WIMM CEO Dave Mooring is a former Intel executive, and he likened WIMM's approach to Intel Inside, where it was clear who supplied the technology but the product itself was made by a separate party.
That separate party might now be Google. Reports of a Google-back smartwatch got started in March, when The Financial Times reported that the Android team was developing the wearable device. Citing a source "briefed on the project," the paper said the smartwatch would act as a kind of peripheral device for Smartphones. Google made no mention of a smartwatch at its I/O developer conference, however, and has thus far focused most of its wearable computing efforts on Google Glass.
Smartwatches have been in the news a lot lately, with Sony unveiling its next-gen gadget in June, and Samsung set to reveal its own smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, at the IFA trade show in Berlin next week. All eyes are also on Apple amidst reports that an iWatch is in the works, while Microsoft is also apparently taking a crack at wearable tech.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
3D printing has seemingly jumped from science fiction into reality. With a little design knowledge or access to a CAD designer, anyone can n... -
PC case mods come in all shapes and sizes, but they typically return to metal casings as their choice of material. However in this instan...
-
Having seen a number of case mod competitions over the years as well as all of the ones I have posted that I have just stumbled across, I a...
-
Some of the Custom Gaming PC and Case Mods created by Mnpctech "Shiny" Firefly Tribute PC for Corsair by Mnpctech ...
-
Here is the video link on YouTube as well.... YouTube - Acrylic casing UV mod... Last edited by s@meEr; 23-08-09 at 11:12 PM .
-
When you had bought your PC gaming first, you may have liked its looks. But after having seen it in the same design for more than a year i...
-
These guys are literally geniuses. I’ve seen so many case mods but these are the ones I find most creative. Case modding is an art and it...
-
Are you looking for my other, previous, insane multi-monitor home office setups? Version 6.0 , Version 5.0 , Before 5.0 , The FAQ , and ...
-
You have spent a lot of time on the popular video game Battlefield 3 ? Maybe you also like to take some time to create an awesome Battle...
