If you add VI and the Lidar together you can have glasses that will help someone with complete vision loss to perceive the world in a meaningful way, so this is imho a stepping stone into a more inclusive future
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Apple's AI Wearables Expected to Lean Heavily on Visual Intelligence
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What is the verified number of Apple's 1+ Billion active and repeat customers who are unhappy? You must have inside knowledge on that. A link from a qualified/respectable source would be great!
"With over 8 billion people in the world, most NOT using Apple products, and hundreds of thousands being born every day, they’ve got a HUGE amount of growth potential in front of them…"
With a valuation of around 4 Trillion dollars, Apple isn't sweating those who don't yet own Apple products. They're likely far more concerned keeping their current 1+ Billion active and repeat customers happy. Judging by Apple's massive growth, they're doing very well in that regard.
And... I suspect Apple is aware of the world's birth rate when making their very long term projections of potential sales.
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
There seems to be a contradiction between these two sentences. Maybe the author means "seeing" instead of literally "recording".
MacAddict1978
macrumors 68000
Visual Idiocy, er, Intelligence Smart Glasses Powered by the amazing Siri are just what I want - for others.
I look forward to watching people swearing and making enraged comments in public settings like they escaped a looney bin - cussing out Siri for making them run into ravines or whatever mayhem her stupidity rains down upon them.
I look forward to watching people swearing and making enraged comments in public settings like they escaped a looney bin - cussing out Siri for making them run into ravines or whatever mayhem her stupidity rains down upon them.
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
Your experience is similar to mine, when a couple months ago I used both ChatGPT and Gemini to help me diagnose the HVAC unit in my Mom's rental house, which had stopped heating and cooling. I have a degree in electronics, but HVAC is still something I have only some experience working on, so I needed help to get it right. YouTube videos on this subject were of limited use. I know how to be careful around electrical wiring, so I wasn't about to be led down some rabbit hole like "stick your finger in that socket, it'll be OK", but both AIs were verbose in guarding against things like that.
I went back and forth between both AIs to doublecheck each other's work, and found both to be helpful. They asked for my observations on the HVAC's behavior, and asked me take measurements on the main fan motor and other parts, which were fine, which narrowed it down to the unit's controller board. They helped me choose an exact replacement board rather than one of the upgraded variants that seemed possibly better, which they determined might not follow the same operational sequence, though I did have to keep asking them questions about these various boards until I was certain the others weren't appropriate, and that process was somewhat more tedious than maybe it should have been, during which they seemed to contradict themselves a few times. I bought the board they originally recommended, and installed it, and now the unit works fine, and my niece and her family have heat. I'll check the AC later.
An AI assistant a decade behind the curve, years late to the AI race and they’re going to make a wearable AI device?
MacAddict1978
macrumors 68000
Depends on the CEO. Being who is rumored to be next in line, yes, yes I do. A hardware engineer, not a bean counter? That's what Apple needs - someone who can build things - make things, not count things.
Apple is wildly successful, but also getting stagnant, has been sloppy with software and user experience. It's almost like this story was told before. Wildly successful Cupertino Tech company - hires a softdrink CEO who tanks teh entire company - company goes from winner to failure and almost out of business. With Cook, he was an inside man and not external - and groomed heavily for his role. Doesn't mean he was great at it. Apple needs to clean up quality and innovation or repeat history on some level. Even if it's not a bankrupt level.
Oh lord, the "bean counter" line. Tell me you know nothing about what a CEO does without telling me you know nothing...
EVERY CEO is a "bean counter". That's one of the primary jobs of a CEO. CEO = Chief EXECUTIVE Officer, not Chief TECHNOLOGY Officer. Let's look at previous Apple CEOs. Steve Jobs? NOT a hardware engineer. John Scully? NOT a hardware engineer. Michael Spindler? NOT a hardware engineer. Gil Amelio? Ok, he had a hardware engineering background and it was his decision to acquire NeXT that "saved" Apple, not anything he or Apple "built" at the time.
Comparing Apple today to Scully's Apple is laughable, absurd really. I've been buying Apple products since 1982. There's no comparison. Under Scully, Apple experienced years of decline. With Cook it's been the exact opposite. Apple is more successful than ever under Cook. Cook took Apple from a $300B valuation to a $4T valuation. Today there are over 2.5B active iOS devices in use, essentially one for every 3 people on Earth.
Innovation? You and the other Cook haters just see what you want to see. No other company has an ecosystem like Apple, built largely under Cook's tenure. Vision Pro is an incredibly innovative product despite being way too expensive. All of that hand/eye tracking tech will make its way into other products like glasses one day.
Where's the innovation in the industry today? Seriously, who is more innovative and delivers better products than Apple today? The entire industry has largely plateaued for the past decade and all we're getting from EVERY company is iterative upgrades. One could argue that Apple missed the AI boat in a big way, but time will tell if that was poor or masterful decision-making on Cook's part. A lot of AI companies are burning a lot of cash only to produce similar AI products without any real way to monetize them.
When I look around the industry, I see a lot of companies that are producing similar products. What sets Apple apart is the overall experience and the (mostly) seamless integration across all devices. The Cook haters complain bitterly about a lack of innovation, yet are unable to point to any other company tickling their innovation fancy. In other words, hating Cook is really something personal. Apple and Cook get held to some weird standard reserved only for them. It's strange how the most successful CEO in corporate history is constantly attacked by a handful of malcontented nobody forum dwellers despite being, by just about any measure, the best CEO Apple has ever had.
I've been an Apple customer for a long long time. Just like the past that some of our politicians constantly romanticize never existed, the golden age of Apple is NOW, not some distant past where my Mac crashed multiple times per day and was incompatible with just about everything. Why did we even need a Snow Leopard release under Jobs? BUGS. So let's not pretend that the Apple software of old was somehow higher quality.
Honestly, this is just disappointment, not vitriol on my part; I am for the first time in my life not excited about anything Apple has in its pipeline. I fail to see how these products will do anything but exacerbate a problem that already exists with technology.
To be fair, this goes for Silicon Valley on the whole; they used to empower and now simply enable, and innovation, i.e. something original and difference making by all appearances, is dead. I do not personally see any of this as positive.
And forgive me if it sounds judgemental: but the 20 somethings celebrating this are too young to realize that someday they will be 50 and grappling with the milieu they created when they were 25. I am not ecstatic over any of the recent rumors or announcements. This is beginning to transcend simple devices into other territory, and I feel like Tim Cook knows he is about to step down and is simply acquiescing, and that, to me, is sad.
To be fair, this goes for Silicon Valley on the whole; they used to empower and now simply enable, and innovation, i.e. something original and difference making by all appearances, is dead. I do not personally see any of this as positive.
And forgive me if it sounds judgemental: but the 20 somethings celebrating this are too young to realize that someday they will be 50 and grappling with the milieu they created when they were 25. I am not ecstatic over any of the recent rumors or announcements. This is beginning to transcend simple devices into other territory, and I feel like Tim Cook knows he is about to step down and is simply acquiescing, and that, to me, is sad.
You’re right, I should have specifically said unhappy ex-Apple customers. They did buy Apple products once, so they’re a customer of Apple’s, but at one point, they decided to
a. stop buying any more Apple products and, at the same time,
b. tell anyone they know how bad Apple products are, adding to the ever growing group of folks that don’t like some decision Apple makes
These could include folks that liked the Apple II, OS9, 32-bit apps, BootCamp, internal discrete GPUs in Mac Pro’s, Final Cut Pro 7, the list goes on and on… All features/capabilities Apple dropped knowing that they could continue to sell to people who have no idea what any of those prior products were, and do well at it.
And Apple is most certainly “sweating” those who don’t yet own Apple products. In many years, they claim during their presentations that “half of customers were new to Apple” 🙂 They want folks to know “It’s just just the same folks over and over, this is real growth, people!” It’s only people that own Apple products that ever think “Apple only makes products for me and people just like me!” (not all of them, but a surprising number!) Then, they’re surprised when Apple releases products they don’t like that go on to sell quite well to the millions of folks that aren’t like them.
So, “Judging by Apple’s growth”, they MUST be focusing on“Keeping current customers happy”? Not, like, “➡️growing⬅️ the number of folks using their devices?”
Curious... what years did Apple experience 50% new Apple customer growth? Back in the 1980s ?
Today, considering current Apple's 1+ Billion active/repeat customers, that would represent an extra half Billion new customers over the period of one year.
