Finally, sleep
At Apples annual WWDC the company announced that the Apple Watch will get sleep tracking, including features that help you build better sleep habits such as going to bed at a reasonable, regular time. In addition, the company has added new workouts including dancing, core workouts, functional strength and cool downs. And last, but certainly not least, both iOS 14 and watchOS 7 will include cycling-specific directions.
The NPD Take:
- Without doubt, all of these features are simply catch-up for the watch OS. All are features that other wearables have offered for a long time, particularly sleep tracking. Of course, the main challenge behind sleep tracking is battery life: the Apple Watch is a device that many consumers find they need to charge every night, which negates the addition of sleep tracking.
Go no more
Facebook is killing off its entry level VR headset, the Oculus Go. The move comes after Facebook launched the Oculus Quest as a standalone VR entertainment and gaming platform last year, which sold out over the 2019 holiday season. With Go’s demise, Facebook can focus on the stronger functionality provided in the Quest, which also now supports PC tethering, and the Rift-S, both of which support more advanced featured such as six degrees of freedom tracking which provides superior tracking of a player’s movements through physical space rather than the 3 degrees used by the GO.
The NPD Take:
- It’s a good move. While the GO provided a cheap (at the end it was just $149 (entry point, it lacked the functionality to really capture player’s imagination and interest. As such, it risked leaving consumers with the “eh” feeling that has limited VR’s adoption rate today. And since the Quest proved to be popular over the holidays. It was a safe move too.