Issue #4: I hope we get hardware that actually deliver
The original iPhone and its successive iterations paved the way for innovative audio games like Papa Sangre. Developing such a game was no small feat, especially considering its reliance on spatial audio at a time when dedicated spatial audio devices were nonexistent. Despite these challenges, we witnessed the creation of an impressive game built with ingenuity. The mass adoption of the iPhone and its ecosystem was crucial for this development, providing the necessary foundation. The developers succeeded in crafting this remarkable game because the hardware was available, and the market was both curious and receptive.
I’m sharing this story because, at heart, I’m a kid who loves shiny new gadgets. This year has been especially exciting, starting with the release of Apple Vision Pro, followed by the Humane AI Pin, and the Rabbit R1. Additionally, Meta x Ray-Ban Glasses gained mainstream popularity through TikTok trends. These gadgets feel like glimpses into the future as if they’ve been brought from the immediate future into our present time.
But there’s a catch. It seems that each of these products aims for immediate dominance without offering anything substantial beyond their shiny appearance. They don’t even fully deliver on their promises — most of what they claim is expected to come in the near future, leaving us to wait and see if they truly live up to the hype. The goal of dominance is also something that makes everyone wary of these products. The Apple Vision Pro could have been a great success, however, it suffers from the reputation Apple has built over the last decade. Apple’s preference for a closed ecosystem, where they dictate the terms, happens to discourage developers from building within it since they would always be at Apple’s mercy. This is widely recognized, even by Mark Zuckerberg, who often acknowledges how Apple dominated the mobile computing era with its closed model. In contrast, the team at Meta is committed to ensuring that an open model prevails in the era of spatial computing, artificial intelligence, and other hardware and software they are developing.
While there is a slim chance that both Apple and Meta might deliver on their promises due to their substantial financial resources and talent, the other two companies claiming to lead us into the AI era appear more gimmicky. The team at Humane has created AI pin which is slow at the AI part but has a super cool projector, while Rabbit has produced a cute Pokédex, and yet to deliver a functioning Large Action Model (LAM). One might expect Apple and Meta to struggle more due to corporate bureaucracy and legal challenges, but they seem to be managing just fine. In contrast, Rabbit seems to face a new controversy every day, and Humane desperately trying to convince internet users that have an operating system.
Yes, I understand that comparing Apple and Meta’s headsets to a wearable assistant or a phone-like device isn’t entirely fair. However, my point is this: create a product that genuinely delivers on its promises, rather than making empty claims about future capabilities. If you want dominance in the market, bring people product that fulfills the promises made, not one that asks them to wait for future developments. There are thousands of people like me who are captivated by shiny new products. However, even we return to our reliable phones and laptops because they consistently deliver on their promises. In the end, it’s not just the allure of new gadgets that matters, but their ability to perform as advertised. This reliability is what truly counts and keeps us coming back.
Hence, I hope we finally get hardware that actually delivers on the promises. It’s long overdue at this point.
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Stuff I have been reading + watching:
This is a new section I have decided to add in which I mention interesting posts, articles, papers, opinion essays, and videos I have come across during my leisure time.
