Wearables could seem like a logical next step for Apple's long term roadmap, especially when considering early efforts like the Pebble and Google Glass by other companies. Maybe we'll look back and regard those in the same way we regard the Motorola Razr today.
I remember my graduate advisor, author to the most cited tangible interaction paper out there, musing on what Apple would be doing 10 years from now. His speculations were on the side of augmented jewelry– wearable, without being as large as a watch or glasses– and smart textiles. The industry examples are scarce, but the research in this field is extremely active (http://www.tei-conf.org/), with some very interesting prototypes being demo'd and work being published every year.
I'm looking forward to chatting about this with you all again in 10 years :)
Disagreed. It's natural for the business head of a fashion shop to be at or above the same "level" as the creative director. Deneve's expertise is the strategy, operations, and business of fashion and should therefore report to Apple's head of business, strategy, and operations, Tim Cook.
1. We know it isn't retail. They'd have just said so.
2. We know he's probably not going to have any design influence: YSL, like Vertu, is so far behind Apple's design that it'd be unthinkable for Ive to cede any control here.
3. I have to believe that the watch Apple is working on is way more of a computer than anything else. I'd be less surprised if they appointed a scientist to run this.
Given that he was a former Apple employee and a Stanford graduate, I would hazard a guess that it was more likely that he left Apple and went to Yves Saint Laurent to gain insight into the fashion industry to return the knowledge back to Silicon Valley and Apple. As opposed to everyone claiming he's a fashion executive coming into the tech industry.
I'm wondering if this will go beyond just wearables and touch on the overall presentation of the brand. Bring that 'wow' back to unboxing apple products.
In the last few days, Apple has trademarked "iWatch" in many countries around the globe. So it's real. Having someone with experience in "stuff people wear" makes good sense.
I knew it was real last September, when they discontinued the 6th gen Nano out of the blue, right after some very popular watch bands were designed around it.
Textbook "kill your competition before your product is released" move.
That's Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent Paris, essentially a reboot of his earlier work at Dior Homme, and still irrelevant to the discussion at hand either way. The CEO at a fashion house is hardly directly involved in the creative process, at least at one as large as YSL.
I remember my graduate advisor, author to the most cited tangible interaction paper out there, musing on what Apple would be doing 10 years from now. His speculations were on the side of augmented jewelry– wearable, without being as large as a watch or glasses– and smart textiles. The industry examples are scarce, but the research in this field is extremely active (http://www.tei-conf.org/), with some very interesting prototypes being demo'd and work being published every year.
I'm looking forward to chatting about this with you all again in 10 years :)