Mobile: Apple Watch Owns 75% of Smart Watch Market Means Not Many Android Users Use Wearbles

There is a report out today suggesting the Apple Watch commands 75% of the market.  And without Apple provide real sales numbers, no one knows for sure what its share of the market is.  However, even if Apple Watch share isn't really 75%, maybe say 60%, it does mean that a larger percentage of iPhone users are getting into the mobile wearable experience than Android users are.

And we know this because in terms of units sold, Android still dominate the market - between 75% to 80%.  You'd think if same percentage of Android users buy a compatible Android Wear device, they it would be Android Wear commanding 75% of the market instead of the Apple Watch.

There could be a couple of reasons why that is the case.  Early Android watch experiences were too raw and ahead of the time - most were not sanctioned by Google if anyone. Folks lik Samsung really jumped the gun thinking that be going to the market before its competitors, it could claim not only to be the first among its competitors including Apple and Motorola but ahead start on a large scape adoption.  That the early Galaxy watches were bulky and not as stylish as the ones on the market did not help.  Also, the features and UI appeared inelegant.  Essentially, Samsung ported the interface from the phone into a smaller screen.  In its defense, that was a natural thing to do.  As we know, Apple went with a different direction with their watch UI.

One other reason that affects Android wearable sales as well as Apple Watch is that missing killer apps or features that seem to be missing.  Notifications via watches regardless of any platform is nice but not a necessity.  This goes for Pebbles as well.  Again, the same can be said of being able to answer calls or returning messages.  Nice but not a dealbreaker.  So what are the must-have features?  That is perhaps what the market is largely waiting for.  It may be the case that as new features are added over the years, it will reach a point when having a weable device becomes indispensible. 

For instance, perhaps the wearabe devices in five years' time may provide us with more pertinent data about the user's surroundings and him- or herself help him or her make better decisions about routes, what to wear, and health-related informations.

Whatever the reasons are that users have yet to buy into wearables, deveopers and hardware designers have their work cut out for them.  As far as mobile is concerned, there is much more innovation in the phone market.  It's likely that even as the wearable market is trying to find its footing, its growth will depend on the phones are they paired with as well. 

Apple Makes more Than $10 Billion And Added $15 Billion in Cash But Wall Street Continues To Knock Down Stock

Yesterday, Apple reported an insane quarter - adding enough cash to push its total over $200 billion.  On top of that, it commands a market share in mobile profit that is just insane.  On top of that, Apple's growth in China and elsewhere in the world isn't done.  Still, Wall Street managed to knock down the stock price because Apple merely beat its own guidance but not ones that Wall Street "analysts" pulled out of their darkest reaches of their behinds. 

So, while this is how Wall Street works - a legalized manner to manipulate stock prices.

However, Apple itself probably isn't too worked up about it.  In fact, with tens of billions set aside for stock buybacks, it probably is pretty happy.  So, it makes one wonder if Wall Street is help Apple out.  A more conspiracy minded person may very well think that.

I'm sure Tim Cook and these so-called analysts would not comment about it.

Apple Watch: I Too Like Mine But It Feels It Can And Needs To Do More

Source:  Macworld.

Yes, the Apple Watch is pretty good and the more I use it, the more I like it.  And this seems to be confirmed in the survey Macworld pointed out.  And what's interesting is the non-tech folks seem to be more impressed with it than the techies.  I think I land squarely in the middle but I do feel something is lacking.

Is it a deal-breaker?  Not really.  I had been hold off on the Apple Watch until I received mine as a gift.  So, I decided to keep it.  It has helped me in one significant manner:  I've lost weight and felt healthier since.  That's about it. 

Now that sounds like I'm being a bit flippant about it.  I'm not.  I only suggest that my Apple Watch was going to help me in other ways and the health feature was going to be secondary.  The survey noted in the Macworld post did not mention in what ways were people impressed with their Apple Watches so I cannot say for sure if their experiences are similar or different from mine.  Other than ease of use, no questions were asked about what functions that lead users to give the Apple Watch a 97% apporval rating.

Notifications are "neat" feature to have and I'm sure other smart watch users find them as useful as Apple Watch users do but I ended up dismissing most of them.  Occasionally, there are one or two that needed my attention that then require that I take out my iPhone to deal with.  When convenient, I sent my replies directly from the watch but that is rare.  Yesterday was the first time I received a call and answered from the watch.  It seemed to have worked fine.  The other party did not have trouble hear me and I was walking along side a busy street with a few cars going by.

But I cannot help but feel there has to be more than just the health features, which I'm sure will improve with each Watch OS and hardware update, notifications.  I don't know what could make the Apple Watch or other smart watches more useful and appealing but I'm sure smart folks in Cupertino are working on that.  Until then, my only complain would be the battery life.  I'm sure that is being worked on as well.

So like these other Apple Watch users, I've taken the new wearable device for what it is now, what it can do and how well it performs.  And it has performed as advertised.  And that is all we can expect at this time.  It has made my feel healthier and kept the iPhone in my pocket or bag.  Well done, Apple Watch! 

AI: Need PC, Tablets, Phones To Accept More Voice Commands And Understand What We Want

I think it's great that Apple, Google, Microsoft (rumored that Facebook as well) have been racing to outdo one another in the field of AI where Cortana, Google Now, And Siri are becoming more and more part of our mobile computing experience and striving to become more of a true companion.  It will be a multi-year if not perpetual AI race. 

But I do think there is something that is fundamentally feasible for these tech companies to do in the near future - having their current OS or AI understand more voice commands like switching between apps or tabs in the browser or even fundamental OS functions.  If there are such features, I have not found them to be adequate.  And it goes towards improving accessibility functions as well for users who are physically or developmentally challenged. 

What's interesting is that Apple has had Siri working on the iPhone and iPad for years and it is noticeably absent from OS X.  Only Apple knows why that is.  And there have been suggestions that Siri would appear in some format on Apple TV.  However, with Cortana playing at least a minor part of Windows 10 launch, it would make sense for Apple to follow up with Siri on the Mac in a year at the very least.

For Google, it does appear that it is going a different route than what Apple and Microsoft are doing with their AI.  Google Now is more (and much better) as providing information to make user lives better, more convenient and efficient, than before.  It's unlike we'll be able to speak into a chromebook to change tabs between its browser.  Any command via voice will have to take place on the Android.

There is the issue of how to implement such a feature.  It's likely Apple is taking a wait and see attitude, letting others like Microsoft go first with Cortana and seeing what it can learn from it.  Personally, I cannot wait to try it. And if Cortana's implementation is near flawless and can do at least what Siri and Google Now can do, it may have found a way back into the mobile hardware game. 

What about my fellow mobile warriors?  Do you feel it's time that the tech companies focus more on givng us new AI features like voice commands and being able to discern the context of what we are ordering it to do?  Voice commands have been around much longer than you realized but it is only recently that we can be optimistic about an AI working in the background trying to understand what the human operators want from it. 

Prime Day Is Amazon's Garage Sale - Junk For Sale

One man's trash is another man's treasure as the saying goes.  Unfortunately, there is more backlash as it appears that Amazon and its partners are using Prime Day to unload junk inventory.  Don't take my word for it.  Take it from social networks (BGR).

The level of snarkiness on Twitter just says it all.  For Amazon, it may not matter in the short run as long as those who sign up for Prime forget to cancel later.  Otherwise, Prime is truly a great deal.  It's just unfortunate that Amazon thinks leaf blowers, wealth/real estate books, dandolions, and guitar picks for girls are what people signed up for.

Amazon's Prime Day Has Been Crap

I guess I'm not alone.  Many are disppointed by the offerings Amazon is offering to Prime users (CNN).  The only good deals, for some, are Fire devices that Amazon owns.  As for the rest, there are a lot of things that are kinda just fillers that people don't really need.  And while there are a few intresting items for sale, they're don't appear to be Black Friday prices.

Like leaf blowers?  Really?  Reflective vests?  No Thanks.  Ditto for the chef's hat.  And those external batteries?  Amazon has similar ones that are priced about the same for the same capacity.  No deal there. 

There are MicroSD cards that I might be interested in but we'll have to see what if the price is right. I'll be running an update all day to see if things change.  Oh, and you have to be fast.  Decend items sell out rather fast...last I checked, the leaf blower and Fire devices have not sold out. 

Update 1:  The PNY cards have sold out the moment they went on sale.  Wait list is full as well.  Only a couple of seconds.

Update 2:  Walmart is looking to spoil Amazon's Prime Day.  The website needs work.  Lots.  It is still stuck in the late-90s.  Not even going to bother.

No MacBook Until I See the iPad Pro

A couple of times during the past month, I nearly pulled the trigger on the new 12" Retina Macbook.  I've done as much research on it as anyone can possible do - what folks who have it are doing with it, battery life, portability, and general sense of how it fits as a replacement for their other laptops or Macbooks.  And I've decided that I can "try" to live without one for a few more months until Apple releases the iPad Pro that is very much real given the amount of smoke coming from that general rumor. 

So far, there is nothing beyond what we are hearing about the iPad Pro that is more than a bigger screen iPad with a pen running iOS 9.  However, I'm hopeful that given the Pro is supposed to be more of a productivity tablet, Apple may release some development tools for it as well.  And iOS device capable of developing apps for the iOS. 

Currently, the iPad works well enough for most productivity tasks with new features like split-screen from iOS 9 that will make the the iPad more appealing to enterprise users.  The pen will likely make artists and designers very happy.

But I like to see coders see some love as well.  And Xcode for iOS would be an awesome additionl.  As someone who has taken up programming, I love to be able to take my iPad Pro and just run with it.  I already have a 15" Macbook Pro that I am using but, folks, it is a big machine to be carry around all the time.

It's why the Macbook has been so appealing.  However, I do see some coders wanting even more portablity when they are on the go.  Furthermore, the iPad Pro wil likely have a longer battery life that makes it ideal for long trips than the Macbook which tops out around 8-9 hours. 

Okay, I recognize that this is a pipe dream on my part but I know there are mobile warriors who want to be able to do more coding on their iPads.  And the near-13" screen of the iPad Pro would be perfect.