„Und, Upgrade-Jahr?“ Es ist wohl die häufigste Frage, mit der ich eine Woche vor der Keynote meinen Freunden, der Familie und dem Internet auf die Nerven falle.

Die fetten Jahre, zwischen 2009 und 2014, in denen die Smartphone-Branche jährlich um 50-Prozent zulegte, sind vorbei. Drei Jahre nach dem iPhone 6, Apples letztem großen Sprung in den iPhone-Verkaufszahlen¹, wächst man wie branchenüblich höchstens im einstelligen Prozentbereich.

Charles Arthur und Sarah Butler:

The reasons for buying a smartphone can be split into two camps. In the first instance, consumers are persuaded to buy new handsets through adverts that extol the handset’s camera, waterproofing, screen size, software or promised battery life. Otherwise, phones are bought for more prosaic reasons: the old one kept crashing; the battery kept dying; or that crack in the screen finally became too annoying.

The problem for the world’s smartphone makers is that the second set of reasons has become far more compelling than the first.

Die Anzahl der traditionellen TV-Minuten, gemessen in den USA für Jugendliche von 18 bis 24, hat sich in den letzten sechs Jahren halbiert.

Neben dem strukturierten Programm von Netflix und HBO einerseits, hat YouTube auf der anderen Seite die Formel für zielloses Zappen gelöst.

Integrating Brain has had an immense impact: more than 70 percent of the time people spend watching videos on the site is now driven by YouTube’s algorithmic recommendations. Each day, YouTube recommends 200 million different videos to users, in 76 languages. And the aggregate time people spend watching videos on YouTube’s home page has grown 20 times larger than what it was three years ago. […]

To name one example: a Brain algorithm began recommending shorter videos for users of the mobile app, and longer videos on YouTube’s TV app. It guessed, correctly, that varying video length by platform would result in higher watch times. YouTube launched 190 changes like this one in 2016, and is on pace to release 300 more this year.

Fitbit’s first smartwatch debuts with personalized guidance, on-device dynamic workouts, relative SpO2 sensor, industry-leading GPS, swim tracking, on-board music, contactless payments and 4+ day battery life.

„Fitbit Launches Ionic, the Ultimate Health and Fitness Smartwatch“

Wenn man es genau nimmt, ist die Ionic bereits Fitbit’s zweite Smartwatch. Die Fitness-Tracker-Company kündigte im Mai 2016 ihre Blaze als „The Smart Fitness Watch“ an. Nun gut.

Valentina Palladino über ein Vorserienmodell, das im Oktober ausgeliefert werden soll:

I’m cautiously optimistic about the Ionic. Fitbit made the right choice to focus on what it knows best—health and fitness—rather than try to decipher the mystery of the modern smartwatch. The Ionic has more elements of a modern smartwatch than any other Fitbit device, and that was necessary for Fitbit to enter an entirely new category. But to convert Apple Watch and Android Wear users, it’ll have to offer the right balance of crucial, practical smartwatch features while also being the best fitness device in its price range.