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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

Well, they got a decade out of a new product. That's not bad. But the glory days of the iPhone are over. Where's the Next Big Thing?

It's not just Apple. It's consumer electronics generally. There's no Next Big Thing. 3D TV? Flopped. VR goggles? Niche market. There's nothing in the pipeline on the scale of the smartphone, the cell phone, the video game console, the DVD player, the VCR, or the iPod. No "must have" product.

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I think it is still too early to call the market on VR goggles (which I will bundle with AR). They did find a niche; and that means the technology will continue to be developed and grow organically. It might never find a place in the mass consumer market; but if it does, we might look back at today as it being in the pipeline.

Cars, whether they will drive themselves or not, are getting a lot smarter.

Voice assistants are growing very fast although they probably won't become high margin devices.

I would like to see the gap between the iPad and the Kindle bridged. There is e-ink research towards that but there is nothing productionized so far.

My guess is that someone will do for the "wearables" something similar to what the iphone did for the PDAs/smartphones of the early 2000s. Don't know what, but there are plenty of failed goggles and half-hearted watches for inspiration ...

The Next Big Thing is more rent seeking by the likes of Google and Facebook. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple chooses to get into search or social media in some way.

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