Apple’s foray into the wearables industry was being rumoured for 2-3 years, and ever since the rumour mill started, many companies (Google, Samsung, etc..) started coming out with their mostly unfinished and unimpressive wearable products. And as it usually turns out, Apple came along with their Watch, and has stirred up the wearables industry, including the multi-billion dollar non-tech Luxury Watch industry.
But there has also been a lot of debate on the privacy aspects of wearable devices, and Google Glass had a a lot of negative attention due to this aspect. Apple Watch has also been talked about for the same issue. But the balance between privacy and convenience has always been tough to maintain, and looking at the recent trend of social media and technology use by consumers, it is obvious that users prefer the latter over privacy.
I think Apple Watch is also going to experience the same preference – the convenience and utility value that the Watch provides, will be found to be more valuable to consumer than the loss of privacy.
Paul Krugman has an interesting taking on this perspective, and has put down his thoughts on NY Times
His reference to the
Varian Rule, which basically says one can forecast the future by looking at what the rich have today, is specifically interesting.
…rich people don’t wait in line. They have minions who ensure that there’s a car waiting at the curb, that the maitre-d escorts them straight to their table, that there’s a staff member to hand them their keys and their bags are already in the room.
If you have seen the recent Apple Event where Kevin Lynch demoed some of the use cases of the Apple Watch, wouldn’t you agree that the Varian Rule can actually be true?
Hari Notes 