Nerds are itching for new interfaces to buy
Nick Wingfield, writing for the New York Times about the lack of zazz in the iPhone 5:
Technology analysts say smartphones could again see big changes akin to the one Apple introduced in 2007. Wearable computers are a source of fascination among many Silicon Valley companies, especially at Google. The company has put tremendous effort behind Project Glass, eyeglasslike frames that can display texts, e-mails and other information from a smartphone on a miniature screen in front of the wearer’s eye.
Google has said it plans to release a version of the technology for developers that would cost $1,500 in the first half of next year and a consumer version sometime after that.
The iPhone 5 looks just fine. It's a mature product. I'll probably get one at some point. (I'm in the weird position of needing an iPhone 5 not because I'm unhappy with my 4S, but because I'll be getting a bunch of iPhone cases to test in the near future that will only fit to the 5.) Anyone who is complaining about its lack of innovation is missing the point: it's a mass-market product that doesn't nor shouldn't change everything up year to year.
But the very same nerds and early adopters who clamor to upend the way they interface between the real and digital worlds are stitched together are starting to look towards AR and VR as not just a “someday this will happen” future, but one next possible thing to wow the public and open up a whole new area of consumer sales.
Update: Somehow, this post from a man walking through Shenzhen's electronics outlet mall and buying a perfectly decent Android tablet for $50 seems germane. It's time for new hardware designs.