Darrell Etherington: ‘Go Ahead, CES 2014 – Prove There’s Tech I Want to Wear’

Darrell Etherington, writing for TechCrunch:

Gadgets don’t interest general consumers by virtue of their potential or their value as objects unto themselves, they appeal because of their use value, and because they answer a specific question consumers have of “How I can I do x, y or z?” They gain mass adoption and traction when they can provide the best possible answer to that question, and when they can do those things consistently and reliably with a minimum of frustration and a maximum of joy.

Exactly. Reminded of Tim Cook’s relatively forthright response at the D11 conference last May, when asked about Google Glass:

“There are lots of gadgets in the space. I would say that [of] the ones that are doing more than one thing, there’s nothing great out there that I’ve seen. Nothing that’s going to convince a kid that’s never worn glasses or a band or a watch or whatever to wear one. At least I haven’t seen it. So there’s lots of things to solve in this space. It is an area for exploration. It is ripe for getting excited about. There are a lot of companies in the space.”

★ Monday, 6 January 2014