Technology runs in cycles. We all know that, but it seems lately like we’ve hit the low end of our current cycle, and whatever the “next big thing” is, we’re spinning our wheels until it gets here.
We’ve already discussed Apple’s mixed bag of a presentation this week, but it is more than just that. In our internal chat, Wayne pointed out that the iPad Pro is perpetually on some sort of sale. The entire iPad line just feels a bit “throw 15 models up and see which 5 sell”. The new iPhones are nice, but not necessarily “rush out and trade in your year-old phone” nice. Part of the issue is that tablets and phones have gained a striking amount of longevity, and are usable long after the payment plan from VerizATmobiSprint is paid off.
It isn’t just Apple though. I’m currently sitting on about $100 worth of Amazon credit, and I just don’t know what to buy. I thought about picking up one of the on-sale Fire tablets, but then I wondered if I would use really use it, and the Fire 7 my son uses for car rides now seems to work fine. I already own a Fire TV, and my Google Home Mini can hear me from just about any shared living space in my condo, so I don’t need another voice assistant. The best I could come up with as a technology buy would be to wait for a sale on some smart bulbs, which is prudent but kind of boring. It is just really hard to get excited about bulbs, no matter how smart they are.
Maybe it’s just me; I am so used to lusting after the next geeky item that being content with my gear is a weird feeling. But it seems as though everything is either incremental or experimental (sure, folding phones sound cool, but we’ve been burned before by weird phone designs). Where’s the next mind-blowing announcement going to come from? And seriously, it’s 2019, and we still don’t have flying cars. Forget subscription iOS games, Apple-get on that flying DeLorean and then we can talk!