14 DAY TRIAL // “Is Apple working on an iWatch that can be experienced as an Even More Personal personal computer — an ‘intimate computer?’” asks former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée. He believes the device is real, and that it will mark a new paradigm shift in personal computing.
Apple likes to make personal computers. Even though one device is called “iPhone” and another “iPad,” they’re all essentially computers. And they’re more personal than what we usually call a “personal computer” – the PC, a laptop, etc.
That’s the hypothesis put out by Jean-Louis Gassée, an ex-Apple employee who shares his take on the iWatch rumors in a recent blog entry.
“…what really floats their [boats], what hardens Apple’s resolve is designing, making, and selling large numbers of personal computers, from the traditional desktop/laptop Mac, to the genre-validating iPad, and on to the iPhone — the Very Personal Computer,” writes Gassée.
“Everything else is an ingredient, a booster, a means to the noblest end,” he believes.
Gassée thinks Apple will pull the innovation card out this year, after much debate about the company’s ability to churn out something new without Steve Jobs' vision.
As activist Dan Pallotta pointed out, “Apple doesn’t have to innovate every 20 minutes in order to be one of the best investments on the planet.” Even under Steve Jobs’ lead Apple launched few products that were completely new.
Gassée agrees. He believes that if Apple is indeed launching an iWatch anytime soon, the company has a lot of factors to juggle, in order to convince customers to buy.
“Is Apple working on an iWatch that can be experienced as an Even More Personal personal computer — an “intimate computer”? If so, many questions arise: user interface, sensors, iOS version, new types of apps, connection with other iDevices… And, of course price,” writes Gassée.
He adds, “This would be much more interesting than the perennially in-the-future Apple TV set. Of course, iWatch and Apple TV aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.”