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Quick Takes: Fitbit Executive Says He Hasn't Met Anyone Passionate About Owning an Apple Watch

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In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Thursday, March 15

1. Fitbit's financial chief knocks the Apple Watch: "I have yet to meet anyone who owns an Apple Watch who's passionate about the product," said Fitbit's chief financial officer Bill Zerella. "If you don't have an Apple phone, you're not buying an Apple Watch... 80% of the world is Android, not Apple."

apple-watch-vs-fitbit-800x438.jpg
Apple Watch Series 3 and Fitbit's new Versa smartwatch​

Commentary: Not only is the Apple Watch the world's most popular smartwatch, but it's the best-selling wearable, ahead of Fitbit. Apple Watch also has a customer satisfaction rate well above 90 percent.

2. iHeartMedia has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection: The company operates Apple Music rival iHeartRadio, which provides free streaming of thousands of live radio stations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The move will allow the company to restructure more than $20 billion in debt.

Commentary: iHeartMedia's day-to-day operations of its businesses are not expected to be dramatically affected, according to reports, so iHeartRadio should remain available for at least the foreseeable future.

3. What the HomePod should become: MacStories' Ryan Christoffel argues that the HomePod isn't a bad product today, but could evolve into a great one by becoming a true hub for all Apple-centric needs.
homepodwhite-250x222.jpg
If Siri knew all things about your Apple devices and services, and could interact with them all, then HomePod would be the perfect vehicle to tap into that power. You could ask Siri on the HomePod to:

- Check your iPhone's battery charge.
- Play an audiobook.
- Add a show to your Up Next queue.
- Download a specific app to your iPhone.
- Pause or resume Apple TV playback.
- List upcoming birthdays for your contacts.
- Provide a delivery status on your Apple Store order.
- Put all your devices in Do Not Disturb mode.
- Play a specific movie or show on the Apple TV.
- Or on the bedroom TV, or the iPad, or iPhone.
- Locate your iPhone or iPad.
- Each device could play a ding if it's nearby, and if not, HomePod could offer to load a map on your nearest device.
- Make a phone call.
- Switch your AirPods to the Apple TV.
- Set an Apple Store support appointment.
- Open an app on a certain device.
- Put a screensaver on the TV.

None of these things can currently be done by HomePod, but I think they would all be reasonable to expect from an upgraded Siri. None of these would infringe on the company's user privacy stance, because the data at play in these requests is already available to Apple.
Click to expand...
Commentary: While the HomePod has received rave reviews about how it sounds, the consensus is that the speaker isn't as smart as the Amazon Echo or Google Home. Being able to complete these tasks would be a huge step forward.

4. Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus responds to claim that Siri was a "disaster" when it first launched on iPhone 4s: "This statement, wholly false, was made by the architect and head of the biggest launch disaster in Apple history, Apple Maps. In reality Siri worked great at launch but, like any new platform under unexpectedly massive load, required scaling adjustments and 24 hour workdays."
This statement, wholly false, was made by the architect and head of the biggest launch disaster in Apple history, Apple Maps. In reality Siri worked great at launch but, like any new platform under unexpectedly massive load, required scaling adjustments and 24 hour workdays. - Dag Kittlaus (@Dagk) March 14, 2018
Click to expand...

Commentary: "After launch, Siri was a disaster," said former Apple executive Richard Williamson, who was reportedly fired in 2012 following the botched launch of Apple Maps. "It was slow, when it worked at all. The software was riddled with serious bugs. Those problems lie entirely with the original Siri team, certainly not me."

For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Article Link: Quick Takes: Fitbit Executive Says He Hasn't Met Anyone Passionate About Owning an Apple Watch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/03/15/quick-takes-on-iheartradio-apple-watch-siri-more/
Yeah, guess he’s happy living in a bubble?

What’s his point here? That all the Apple Watch owners are just biting at the bit to switch platforms? Does he not realize that saying incredibly dumb things like this will likely cause investors to lose confidence in him?

Also, Siri was such a disaster that immediately TV shows dedicated whole episodes to Siri as a character. Wish o could make disasters that were so successful.
 
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Apple TV control is such low hanging fruit, it is unbelievable that it isn't implemented. Just have both Apple TV and HomePod as part of HomeKit, and you assign them to the same room. Then when you talk to that HomePod about TV, it should just know you are directing commands to that Apple TV. Siri already exists for the Apple TV, so if they want to hack it together then just send the audio stream to the TV like a remote (It would be better if the HomePod "understood" commands the same way the TV did, but it seems platforms for Siri aren't united at all.)
 
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cliffster82 said:
Is that right? If so that's nuts. Sitting here I can think of like, 3 people(?) I know who use Android. Like total. Everyone else has an iPhone. This is crazy.
Click to expand...

https://www.statista.com/statistics/266136/global-market-share-held-by-smartphone-operating-systems/

The problem with the "people I know" stats is that people we know are generally people like us, maybe family (much like us), and friends (probably more like us than not), etc. For instance, almost all people I know are white Americans who live in Florida, but that doesn't mean that ALL people are white, all are Americans, and all people only live in Florida. It can certainly look like that if I "poll" only "people I know" but that's the common mistake many of us make when we're slinging around our "99.9%" claims and so on... often based on a survey of as little as just the lone person writing the post.

Android:ios is rapidly becoming Windows:macOS. That's not putting down iOS, macOS or Apple, just pointing out that this is basically a repeat of decisions made from when Apple had THE mouse & windows-oriented OS and a challenger came along years later... who then proceeded to make decisions to catch up and then take over the dominant share of that market.

Deja Vu?
 
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Martyimac said:
In my Apple User Group we did a quick survey one day. Out of 27 folks 3 owned an Apple watch, 4 owned a fitbit. And of those 7 folks, one was a dual owner.
Click to expand...

Fitbit watch or one of their cheaper fitness trackers?
 
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