Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Facebook Working on Smart Watch to Compete With Apple Watch

This is good. A social platform spends billions on a doomed product launch, and the core business goes down with product.
 
Let me take a wild guess you would need a Facebook account in order for the watch to work. I’m looking at you Oculus.
 
I don’t like Facebook but apparently they have 2.8 Billion active users worldwide. They only have to convert a fraction of those people to their watch to make a lot of money.
 
warp9 said:
I don't know if you're joking but data is the backbone of ai. All the public data on the internet is the reason why we have Google Deepmind, Alexa, and Siri. Imagine what happens when it's mixed with all your personal data to the nth degree.

Here's the bottom line: if a friend or family member could guess where you are or what you're doing, then ai can do it too. Personal assistants and tech in general is going to get really freaky and really personal over the next decade and Facebook is going to be a front runner.
Click to expand...
Facebook may be one of the world's largest data providers for a specific category of data, primarily data for advertisements that require personal information, but being a niche data provider is vastly different from being an AI services or systems provider.

Companies aren't going to Facebook to contract for them to build out AI systems for logistics or HR services.

As for their relevance, Facebook is a few laws away (in the EU, India, probably the USA) from having their wings clipped. And Google, to keep from losing market share from Apple, is also planning on taking at least a few steps to limit their ability to gather data.

Not saying they won't stay relevant, just pointing out that social media in general has gotten the attention of governments in a way that is not good for Facebook's bottom line.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Captain Trips
if Apple caused Fitbit, once considered a competitor to the Apple Watch to get bought out by Google. What makes Facebook think they will stand a chance?
 
jeremiah256 said:
Facebook may be one of the world's largest data providers for a specific category of data, primarily data for advertisements that require personal information, but being a niche data provider is vastly different from being an AI services or systems provider.

Companies aren't going to Facebook to contract for them to build out AI systems for logistics or HR services.

As for their relevance, Facebook is a few laws away (in the EU, India, probably the USA) from having their wings clipped. And Google, to keep from losing market share from Apple, is also planning on taking at least a few steps to limit their ability to gather data.

Not saying they won't stay relevant, just pointing out that social media in general has gotten the attention of governments in a way that is not good for Facebook's bottom line.
Click to expand...
The Facebook of today is not the Facebook of tomorrow and they have no intention of selling ai services. The "personal assistant" market 10 years hence makes Alexa look like a Speak 'n Spell. It's pervasive and all-encompassing. It's everywhere you go and always knows you by the devices you carry or by your voice or appearance. It knows what you buy and when, even if you pay cash (see Amazon stores for a preview of that tech).

The monetization model is not from showing you tiny pictures or catchy videos but from directly influencing your behavior by making suggestions towards products or services from the highest relevant bidder. In most cases, people will choose this model because it will most likely be the best choice since they have so much data. It's effectively like asking a close friend which widget you should buy.

As for their privacy woes, I fully expect that problem to evaporate. Either regulation will force data protection standards (ideally) or market demand will overshadow any possible government action. Either way, data collection is not going away. There's trillions of dollars on the line and it's basically required for tech to become so personal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adib
lyngo said:
Is this Facebook's attempt at trying to remain relevant? Wow. I left them months ago and I am NOT looking back. Feeling the freedom since leaving this mess.
Click to expand...
They do this kind of hardware thing every once in a while and they never succeed. They had a Facebook phone, that video calling thing nobody used, and now a watch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lyngo
warp9 said:
The Facebook of today is not the Facebook of tomorrow and they have no intention of selling ai services. The "personal assistant" market 10 years hence makes Alexa look like a Speak 'n Spell. It's pervasive and all-encompassing. It's everywhere you go and always knows you by the devices you carry or by your voice or appearance. It knows what you buy and when, even if you pay cash (see Amazon stores for a preview of that tech).

The monetization model is not from showing you tiny pictures or catchy videos but from directly influencing your behavior by making suggestions towards products or services from the highest relevant bidder. In most cases, people will choose this model because it will most likely be the best choice since they have so much data. It's effectively like asking a close friend which widget you should buy.

As for their privacy woes, I fully expect that problem to evaporate. Either regulation will force data protection standards (ideally) or market demand will overshadow any possible government action. Either way, data collection is not going away. There's trillions of dollars on the line and it's basically required for tech to become so personal.
Click to expand...
I'm confused. You said:

warp9 said:
Facebook is about to become one of the worlds leading ai providers and it's precisely because they have so much data on everyone. They will know where you are and what you're doing even if you are not carrying any devices.
Click to expand...
My point is that Facebook is not even close to being one of the world's leading AI providers and I'd put money on betting that they never will be. Again, they are in the top when it comes to personal information data.

And you're inflating Facebook's influence with regards to commerce especially vs companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Google. Those companies represent the model the majority have chosen because there is at least a modicum of privacy.

If a consumer interacts with a product or service on Facebook, you risk Facebook blabbing to everyone that you liked something you may not want everyone to know you like, because their business model relies too much on manipulating their product, which is the users as tranches, for the purpose of selling access to their customers, advertisers.

Amazon, on the other hand, is not notifying grandma I just bought (for example) Satanic Temple nipple rings. Amazon absolutely wants to influence me as an individual, that that is now to purchase (for example) a Satanic chastity belt.

As for digital, personalized assistants, again, Facebook has no significant presence and with no viable ubiquitous physical products, home or mobile, there is no indication that will change. They know this, hence the watch initiative, but they have a serious negative reputation to overcome in addition to having to go face to face against competitors like Google, Amazon, and Apple. Would Facebook like to pivot to the company you think they'll be in 10 years? Yes. Will they be able to? So far, their still very profitable original business model has hampered them from attracting customers to the products and services they'd need for this to happen.

Due to trust issues, no one wants a Facebook phone, tablet, or their latest failure, their money.
 
Last edited:
  • Love
Reactions: Captain Trips
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back