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Apps Along the Watchtower

First Draught
Apps Along the Watchtower
By M.G. Siegler • Issue #141 • View online
It’s hard to come up with something that has been as poorly conceived by Apple as their plan for Apple Watch apps. They were bad from the get-go, mainly because neither the hardware nor the software seemed up to the task of matching the dreams of third-party developers. But even now, over three years and three generations later, the Apple Watch app situation is a total mess.
Everyone knows this to be true on a daily basis – do you use any Apple Watch apps? What about any third-party ones? Even just one? Here’s how dire the situation is for me: I only really think about Apple Watch apps when a developer announces in their iPhone app that they’re removing Apple Watch support. Which seems to happen a lot these days.
But this has been even more top of mind recently after my Apple Watch fiasco. While Apple did eventually fix my not-even-year-old third-generation Apple Watch which spontaneously broke, I had to send it in twice, which means I was left wearing my older Apple Watch as a backup quite a bit. This worried me since it is far slower than the third-gen. But in reality, I realized that barely mattered. Again, because I don’t use any apps. So really, the Apple Watch just pushes notifications to me, which work just as well on previous models. And the (first-party) apps I do use, like timers, and the workout app, all run basically the same.
So I’ll be watching with much interest to see what Apple says about the new fourth-gen Apple Watch this week. The new larger screen looks great. As does the new gold color, surprisingly (though just based on one leaked marketing image, of course)! But what I really want to hear about is how they’re currently thinking about the app ecosystem for the device. We got basically nothing about that at WWDC beyond some new API promises. I think the entire paradigm needs to be rethought.
Perhaps Apple was actually more directionally correct early on, with the notion of “widgets” versus full-blown apps. I just think anything you do on the Watch has to be done insanely fast and likely at a glance (even with the larger canvas). It’s just not a drill-down device. Think: more walkie-talkie functionality, less Facebook for Apple Watch.
Drinking: a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale – yes, it’s that time of year again! 🎃🍻

5ish Links
This Is Personal
Golden State star Steph Curry with a great essay in The Players’ Tribune (a GV portfolio company) – on the topic of his kids:
Riley and Ryan are growing up so fast. And with Ayesha and I suddenly seeing things through the eyes of these daughters of ours, who we brought into this world, and now are raising to live in this world … you know, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the idea of women’s equality has become a little more personal for me, lately, and a little more real.
I want our girls to grow up knowing that there are no boundaries that can be placed on their futures, period. I want them to grow up in a world where their gender does not feel like a rulebook for what they should think, or be, or do. And I want them to grow up believing that they can dream big, and strive for careers where they’ll be treated fairly.
And of course: paid equally.
🙏
www.theplayerstribune.com  •  Share
Sarah Frier:
Spiegel flopped his microphone back and forth as he gathered his thoughts. “I think one of the things that’s been really helpful in maybe the past six months or so is that the contrast is starting to become more clear between our company and the other companies in technology,” he said. “What I think that people are starting to see is that other companies really are trying to make as much money as possible and really don’t care how that happens.”
Frier’s question-mark title is a totally fair one – given the nightmare scenario currently playing out for Facebook (and to a lesser extent, Twitter), Snap should be taking advantage of this time. Instead, they seem to be shrinking away from the challenge – both literally and figuratively. They seem to know that they should be taking advantage of their strength as a more private social network here (per above), but they just can’t execute on that. I’m reminded of this scene…
www.bloomberg.com  •  Share
Teens Debate Issues on Instagram Flop Accounts
Speaking of social networks, here’s Taylor Lorenz on the trend of “flop” accounts – pages that are collectively managed by several teens:
The main thing teens who engage with flop accounts share is a strong distrust of the news media. Teens said they turned to flop accounts specifically because they didn’t believe what they read in the news, saw on TV, or even were taught in their U.S.-history class, since, as one teen saw it, their teacher is just one person giving an opinion. Teen flop-account admins and followers said they found information on flop accounts to be far more reliable because it could be crowdsourced and debated.
And:
“Flop accounts have a lot of people fact-checking each other instead of just depending on one source giving us information,” Dann said. “The fact that we’re all posting about these things means we all have to do research and it’s a lot of people completing these things together, not just one person, which makes us trust it more.”
It’s like wisdom-of-the-crowds meets triangulation. This can be very risky, of course. But reading this report, you can also understand why teens are turning to such measures to try to get to some semblance of truth in our current age of insanity.
www.theatlantic.com  •  Share
IGTV: Instagram Needs Slow to Mean Steady
Josh Constine reporting on the seemingly tepid response to IGTV (Instagram TV) thus far:
YouTube star Casey Neistat is less bullish. He doesn’t think IGTV is working and that engagement has been weak. If IGTV views were surpassing those of YouTube, creators would flock to it, but so far view counts are uninspiring and not worth diverting creative attention, Neistat says. “YouTube offers the best sit-back consumption, and Stories offers active consumption. Where does IGTV fit in? I’m not sure” he tells me. “Why create all of this unique content if it gets lower views, it’s not monetizable, and the viewers aren’t there?”
I have to agree and I can’t say that I’m surprised. Not only do I never feel compelled to click into IGTV, I actually get annoyed by their constantly pushing me to check it out. At the end of the day, I just feel like it’s a feature, driven by the promise of television ad dollars, bolted on to a network which wasn’t built for such a purpose.
techcrunch.com  •  Share
Mahershala Ali stars in #TrueDetective Season 3. January 2019 on @HBO.… "
Mahershala Ali stars in #TrueDetective Season 3. January 2019 on @HBO.… "
Cannot wait. (Used link rather than tweet embed so you can click to see the trailer. The series looks back on track…)
twitter.com  •  Share
My Apple Watch notwithstanding, it’s not just one thing. It’s all the things listed here – in concert.
qz.com  •  Share
Apple Is a Hedge Fund That Makes Phones
It’s not all bad in the land of Apple though as Thomas Gilbert and Christopher Hrdlicka remind us:
When you buy a share of Apple stock, you do not simply buy into a $1 trillion technology company. You also buy a share of one of the world’s largest investment companies: Braeburn Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple. Braeburn manages a $244 billion financial portfolio—70% of Apple’s total book assets. Apple acts like a hedge fund by supporting this portfolio with $115 billion of debt.
Like a hedge fund, Apple provides minimal disclosures on Braeburn Capital’s holdings. But unlike a hedge fund, Apple does not restrict itself to accepting funds from sophisticated investors. Apple invests the money of everyday investors, like a mutual fund—but without telling investors what they own, the most basic protection mutual funds offer.
Braeburn has long been a very secretive part of Apple’s sauce. This helps shed some light on the (rather fascinating) work they’re doing with all that money…
www.wsj.com  •  Share
500ish Words
Read on iPad, Read on iPhone
Read on iPad, Read on iPhone
Last week, I wrote about my writing workflow. But there’s a layer just beneath this surface which is at least as important to the writing side of the equation for me: reading…
500ish.com  •  Share
A Giphy To Go
Those tap-targets tho...
Those tap-targets tho...
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M.G. Siegler

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