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DanielPhermous t1_j9n56j9 wrote

You're reading way too much into some obvious hyperbole. Obviously it can't earn infinite money. We don't have infinite money. Clearly, Herewego just meant that they will make a shit-ton.

That is also hyperbole, by the way. A ton of excrement weighs no more than ton of anything else, including money.

However, yes, I can see the watch becoming more popular than smartphone long term. Machine learning is exceptionally good at finding patterns in noise and it is likely that the Apple Watch, using all of its sensors present and future, will be able to intuit medical conditions that we cannot.

At that point, why the fuck would you not buy one? They can already literally save your life. Add another five or ten things it could save your life from, plus early warnings on lesser problems like diabetes, and it's a no-brainer.

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KhonMan t1_j9ncf37 wrote

I think the potential is more there to make smartwatches a real thing. It's a decent sized market now but still maybe only like 5% the size of the smartphone market.

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swaskowi t1_j9p3mff wrote

The economics of medicine are deeply weird though, like I can imagine the Qaly's gained by such monitoring being worth subsidizing in some fashion, but in no other industry does an advance in the underlying tech contribute to acute suffering because, when Ferrari releases a new faster car, no one thinks they have to have it, but as soon as a regime that improves life outcomes exists people that can't afford the initial asking price become furious they can't afford it, contra Ferrari's. Despite the fact that they're no worse off than before the magic tech existed.

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