Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Quick Takes: Smartwatches to Have More Than Just 15 Minutes of Fame as GymKit Rollout Continues
In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.
1. IDC forecasts that smartwatch shipments will nearly double within four years: IDC believes smartwatches will account for almost two out of every five wearable devices shipped in 2022, with an estimated 84.1 million shipments that year, compared to an estimated 43.6 million units in 2018.
Commentary: Apple Watch is the world's most popular smartwatch by a significant margin, having outsold all competing smartwatches combined in 2017, and there's no sign that momentum will slow down.
2. Stack Overflow releases the results of its 2018 developer survey: The results, based on over 100,000 respondents from around the world, outline this year's most loved, dreaded, and wanted technologies and platforms, how developers around the world code, learn, live, and work, and more.
Apple-related highlights:
Commentary: This service is an expansion of a four-year-old enterprise partnership between Apple and IBM that has led to over 100 new business apps tailored to industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation.
Tuesday, March 20
Highlights
1. IDC forecasts that smartwatch shipments will nearly double within four years: IDC believes smartwatches will account for almost two out of every five wearable devices shipped in 2022, with an estimated 84.1 million shipments that year, compared to an estimated 43.6 million units in 2018.
Commentary: Apple Watch is the world's most popular smartwatch by a significant margin, having outsold all competing smartwatches combined in 2017, and there's no sign that momentum will slow down.
2. Stack Overflow releases the results of its 2018 developer survey: The results, based on over 100,000 respondents from around the world, outline this year's most loved, dreaded, and wanted technologies and platforms, how developers around the world code, learn, live, and work, and more.
Apple-related highlights:
- 26.7 percent of developers said macOS is their primary operating system for work, versus 49.9 percent for Windows
- iOS was the most loved mobile operating system for development, with 64.6 percent of respondents expressing interest in continuing to develop for the platform, versus 63.8 percent for Android
- Developers using Apple's open source Swift programming language earned a median salary of $57,000 in the United States, versus a leading $74,000 for programming language F#
Commentary: This service is an expansion of a four-year-old enterprise partnership between Apple and IBM that has led to over 100 new business apps tailored to industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation.
Other Links
- Amazon surpasses Alphabet in market value: As of writing, Amazon has a market cap of around $765 billion, while Google parent company Alphabet stands at around $760 billion. Amazon is now the world's second most valuable company behind Apple and its $890 billion.
- Dutch mobile bank bunq launches in Italy and Spain with Apple Pay support: Unfortunately, Apple Pay has yet to launch in the Netherlands itself. But, this seems like a small step forward.
- Technogym now has more than 5,000 GymKit-enabled pieces of equipment in hundreds of fitness clubs across the world: Apple plans to roll out GymKit to 80 percent of the fitness equipment market, allowing one-tap pairing with an Apple Watch for more accurate fitness data.
Tag: Quick Takes
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17 months ago
Just wanted to throw out that the MR: Quick Takes posts have been solid. Keep it up!
17 months ago
I always wonder why developers need to use MacOS or Windows to develop for iOS (or Android). When will developers just start writing code and developing on iOS itself? Won't Apple consider that a huge step in their vision of a iOS driven computing for all needs?
17 months ago
The funny thing is I don’t really desperately desire an Apple Watch, but I want them to give me a reason to desperately desire an Apple Watch. I don’t know what they need to add to it to make it more desirable, but so far it’s not there yet. Good thing I’m not filling out a survey for them about it, because my advise seems super vague. Just wow me, Apple. I don’t know what you could do to wow me, but that’s my input.
17 months ago
Just wanted to throw out that the MR: Quick Takes posts have been solid. Keep it up!
Second this! I've really been enjoying them!
17 months ago
The day Apple makes it rounded, like a classic watch, I'll consider it.
I don’t believe Apple is going to consider a round Apple Watch. Given how the current design displays information and Jonny Ive commented how he Believes a round design actually doesn’t make sense in terms of a smart watch. I personally find the current Apple Watch design appealing, but I would be open to a larger display, such as a 44 mm option.
17 months ago
I wouldn't expect this to happen anytime soon. The shape is now recognizable on the street as the Apple Watch shape. I like the Samsung round design and functionality a lot better. The Gear Frontier just looks classy whether I'm wearing a suit or jeans. And I can easily switch to a watch face that is dressy, casual, or sporty.
Samsung functionality? Running Tizen and limited in Apps?
My AW3 has LTE and 50M water resistance. You can’t even get that in any Samsung Gear watch. And my running App of choice isn’t available on Tizen. To add to that I get 16GB of storage to boot (instead of 4GB on Samsung). For the money AW gives you far more than anyone else.
17 months ago
Do you also want your iPhone to have a black and white 1inch screen and physical keyboard? you know, like a classic mobile phone
There's no such thing as a classic mobile phone. This is recent technology with just a few decades of existence. Wristwatches have however existed for quite a bit longer, with a very well established form factor and look and feel. Sure there's square watches but aren't just as popular as the spheric. Call it aesthetics.
As for the AW, perhaps it's very popular, but I can't just get myself to buy it. I prefer to wear a watch that looks like a watch. Personal taste.
17 months ago
1. IDC forecasts that smartwatch shipments will nearly double within four years ('https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43642518'): IDC believes smartwatches will account for almost two out of every five wearable devices shipped in 2022, with an estimated 84.1 million shipments that year, compared to an estimated 43.6 million units in 2018.
Commentary: Apple Watch is the world's most popular smartwatch by a significant margin, having outsold all competing smartwatches combined in 2017 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/03/01/apple-watch-outsold-all-smartwatches-combined-2017/'), and there's no sign that momentum will slow down.
Solid growth but not really blazing barn burner game changer. Still an accessory. Compare: When iPhone was 7 years old (the same age IDC is predicting AW sales will be 84 million per year) iPhone was selling 70 million a quarter and iPhone's starting price then was about the same price after subsidy as AW is now.
This is not to knock AW. I love mine. But I think people blow sales out of context. It's an evolution, not a revolution like iPod or iPhone.
17 months ago
The day Apple makes it rounded, like a classic watch, I'll consider it.
Do you also want your iPhone to have a black and white 1inch screen and physical keyboard? you know, like a classic mobile phone[ Read All Comments ]
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