At 08:38 AM 2/1/99 -0600, Billy Brown wrote:
>> Wearables will become popular when they can be bought for less than
a
>> desktop machine, provide web browsing, vr chat, personal organizing,
>> video conferencing, and personal documentary. Oh, and can
>> play music at high quality.... replace the walkman..
>
>Sounds great, but isn't it overkill? If you can replace your walkman,
cell
>phone and pager with a device that also acts as a personal organizer,
you
>should have a marketable product. You can add the fancy multimedia
features
>later, as hardware prices come down.
>
>bbrown@conemsco.com
Actually, "overkill" might not be as relevant a concept as it once was. For one, take the cell phone part--how many companies <italic>don't</italic> make what was once an extraordinary and unheard of offer to attract customers? Plus, look at the average computer user today with CD roms, multiple disk drives, Internets, Personal Web Sites, Word Processing, Calendars/Schedules (complete with daily alarms), Instant Messenger... it seems people want to maximize their features with every large electronic device that they own. I think that if someone can replace a majority or all of their personal electronic devices with one easy to carry device, chances are that they will.
I also doubt that this will cause the industry to dry up immediately. Producers will naturally find more applications and add-ons to WWVs. If this wasn't true, how many producers would we find for more commonly found products, such as TVs?
--Joe Trusnik
trusnija@muohio.edu