But TV is suffering; the reason why it isn’t gone yet is because of a lot of protectionist moves on all levels (from country-blocking video online, to cable companies that also control broadband internet connectivity that insist on both being purchased etc etc). We’re on the cusp in my home of discontinuing our cable service entirely and going all internet for our info-tainment.
I wouldn’t dare to compare something as widespread as television to the FitBit and UP bracelets though. I’d compare them instead to the plethora of CD-based MP3 players (as well as the tiny flash players) that existed in great numbers (as far as selection goes) before the iPod came out. They were GONE within a year of the iPod’s launch. So fast that many people thought, not a year or two later, that Apple invented the mp3 player!
The next big tech is going to be the connected smart watch. I own a Pebble and see the possibilities, but I expect the options coming from Apple, Google and Samsung will make the Pebble seem like a Palm Pilot next to an iPhone.
Or one more connection: before the iPhone came out, tecchie geeks had their cell phone and their PDA. Now we don’t. I think once the smart watch comes out, these bracelets will go into the history files.
I honestly think now these are very short term, soon-to-be forgotten products. Why? Because the age of the smart watches in coming very soon, and they’ll all do what these wrist bands do, and even more so.
Also, the UP bracelet has a serious flaw – the lack of wireless updating via bluetooth (or even NFC, which would have been great). I bought the UP bracelet from the Apple store in Canada to try it out and found its lack of wireless updating to be a huge flaw and detriment. That, and the largest bracelet didn’t even fit my wrist – it was tight.
I was thinking about getting the Fitbit bracelet when I first read about it half a year ago, but now with the coming of the various smart watches from Samsung, Google, Apple, etc, my mindset is these products will be long gone, abandoned, and forgotten 6 months after the watches start hitting the market.
