Apple AirPods may be much more important than just a replacement of an old headphone in term of the future IoT computing. Apple AirPods are sold out worldwide. This is a product perceived as a failure by some of the initial reviewers, mainly due to the high price tag ($159) and a ridiculous look (Hey, something sticking out from your ear). However, if you go to any apple store now, you won’t see them, because they are *. sold out *There is a blog entry “ How you get sold out AirPods without waiting for 6 weeks ” Almost 10 years ago. On June 28, 2007, Nokia was the top selling mobile-phone company in the world, Android phones didn’t exist, and BlackBerrys had their marketplaces. The next day, . We all know now how much impact iPhone had in our life since. Apple’s first iPhone went on sale The product, not quite perfect yet. When the first iPhone was introduced, the product had many limitations (no copy and paste, remember?) and it went through multiple iteration of improvements each year. The first AirPods also have some limitations (in fact, very limited for “ ”), like any other firsts. However, AirPods are clearly very important part of the product category for — enabling . Hearables future Apple “voice-operated personal assistant” iPhone in your ear? ) equivalent to Cortex SoCs_, all in such small enclosure._ It is an intriguing fact that AirPods have more computing power than the first iPhone does (according to @BrianRoemmele — 3 1 Cortex SoCs in each ear piece and 1 in the base ( ) Source The battle of the AI entry points We all know that Amazon and Google are fighting crucial battle over voice recognition though the product like Amazon Echo and Google Home. Google Home vs Amazon Echo ( ) Source Why? Because these products serve as to collect more data into their respective Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) services. Apple enabled “Siri” on AppleTV to get into this battle field —Living room, but so far “Siri” hasn’t been called as much as “Alexa” does. entry points More it called, the better it become It comes down to building the engine by structuring the right model and feeding more data. The chances are the more people uses, the better the service (AI) become. Therefore, they are fighting to be the market leader — Amazon’s ‘Alexa’, Google’s ‘assistant’(no name yet), Apple’s ‘Siri’, or Microsoft ‘Cortana’ (yes, Microsoft also has it). smartest AI Being Hearables AirPods have its place and advantage being a ‘ ’, somewhat (the human) compare to the other entry points — possibly providing the most seamless (natural) entry point to the AI. Apple understand the importance and is investing heavily on this. Hearables closest to the operator Hearables — a potential to be the most natural UX for human interacting AIs ( ) Source “We’re just at the beginning of a truly wireless future we’ve been working towards for many years. Where technology enables the seamless and automatic connection between you and your devices.” — Jony Ive, Apple at the introduction of AirPods The AI — becoming real This train of thought, reminded me a movie — . This movie futures, ‘Siri’ like voice-operated AI “personal assistant” — “Samantha”. This was one of the movies made me deeply think about how our “not so far” future of the communication between the human and Artificial Intelligence — the one that is truly intelligent, self-aware and creative kind. Her (2013) Trailer — Her (2013) ( ) Source For any SF fans like me, I highly recommend this movie, along with Ex Macina . All it needs is a cloud connectivity. Not to judge by the current capability of AirPods, but using the imagination to assess its potential, knowing all devices need, is to connect to the cloud (the source of unlimited computing resources), AirPods maybe be the closest device that enables the future of IoT computing — form factor Would you agree? Always appreciate your feedback,Tack T. If you are looking to start Internet of Things (“IoT”) solution, having issue with current connectivity options, looking to securely connect to the Cloud, or requiring more control over your network… Check out the blog posts from !! SORACOM <A story worth your time> IoT 101: Building on the SORACOM Platform Please join the silicon valley IoT meetup group and attend the workshop sessions near you for IoT Hackers & IoT Makers to learn more for free!! _3 hour IoT Workshop Sessions — Learn how to securely connect to the cloud._www.meetup.com Silicon Valley Internet of Things (“IoT”) Workshop

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