Comment by npunt | Hacker News Reader

Comment by npunt | Hacker News Reader

Less is more! Apps are overwhelming, attention-grabbing fiascos that we've been boiled like frogs into accepting as part of our minute-by-minute existence. Older folks and kids feel this even more than working-age adults, and this is a product that helps everyone engage in some of the magic of tech without that noise.

We have AI now, this is a product that understands that and builds the experience around that. AI lookup > fiddling with Apps/Browsers/etc for this particular home use case. Add FaceTime, Calendar, Homekit, and a Timer and you've got the right bundle.

This is going to be a hit this holiday season. 249 would have been the ideal price point and I bet it was Apple's target, but techflation hit. A lot of people in their 30s+ with disposable income will be buying this for their parents and/or their families this holiday season.

This is already almost overwhelming. people want the ai helper version of this. also, meta tried this a while back.

Meta didn't have the ecosystem advantage nor trust Apple has, and they were too early with AI. This corrects all three.

Timing is super important in launching products, I wrote a bit about timing and its relationship to category defining products here: https://nickpunt.com/blog/category-defining-products/

That's a fair point, but these things have been tried.

I think it's iffy.

They need a 'killer use case' - that has always been what is missing, surprising they don't go with the 'videophone' thing hard.

Now that I've watched the review videos I'm cooling a bit, and maybe I agree with you now. I was basing this on the landing page which suggested a much more focused product and easier interaction paradigm, which I'd assumed was going to be more AI based and less swipe driven.

But it's still using the same prone-to-misswipe, nothing-is-solid iOS paradigm for a device whose placement on a table surface might not work well with that. Specifically you lose dexterity when extending your arm, and iOS swipe navigation is rather twitchy. Hands on videos gave me the impression of the same lack of solidity.

This might wind up being in a trough between appliance and smartphone, worse than either, because it is too much software and not enough solid, stoic appliance.

I think an AI and primarily voice based 'heres what you need to know' UI with a few buttons to tap is the correct paradigm for the house. This might be trying to do too much with too old an interaction paradigm.

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