Bernard Desarnauts had a great idea a few weeks ago: the world needs an event to discuss Apple Watch. After recovering from the shock of not thinking of it first and then from the shock that nobody else had either, I immediately agreed and along with Ben Bajarin and Farshad Nayeri, we quickly rallied to organize and anchor this event: Glance: A Deep Look at Apple Watch.
We had some big questions to answer:
- What is the strategy for Apple Watch? Is it an object of beauty and desire, placing Apple in the “luxury sector” or is it a computer infiltrating what is otherwise a technology-free zone with utility in an asymmetric attack?
- How can developers discover the killer jobs to be done? Beyond tentpoles what will the primary reasons people will use the watch? What does the data tell us so far? What can be observed from interviews?
- Given the sales performance to date, what can we expect from the product? What is the addressable market? What will be the installed base? How quickly will it grow?
- What is the platform strategy, especially with the cadence of OS releases? Is Apple treating this as a separate platform? Will it eventually become independent of the iPhone as the iPhone cast off its dependence on the Mac/PC?
- What is the hardware strategy? What are the constraints from manufacturing, materials, battery life and screen space? What will be the replacement schedule? What is the role of modular internal designs?
We realized that we did not have the answers. So we recruited a great cast of participants to help us:
- Bob Moesta, the founder and developer of the theory of jobs-to-be-done marketing agreed to do a live interview to understand what jobs watches, and in particular Apple Watches, are hired to do.
- Josh Clark, the premier UX designer who wrote Designing for Touch will explore the question of user experience in glanceable space.
- Liza Kindred is considered the top expert on fashion tech–she’s writing the book on the future of commerce–brings keen understanding of wearables.
- Abdel Ibrahim the most prominent blogger and writer on the topic of Apple Watch. Has forgotten more about the Apple Watch than you will ever learn.
- Carolina Milanesi one of the most respected technology market analysts, now at Kantar and often quoted on all things Apple.
- Greg Koenig, product designer at Atomic Delights will educate us on the atoms that make up the Watch.
Investors who will participate in panel conversations:
- John Lilly Venture Capitalist, Greylock Ventures.
- Mari Cross of AngelList
- Glenn Solomon GGV Ventures.
- Josh Stein Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Special guest: Jean-Louis Gassée, former head of Apple Engineering, current VC and everything in-between will have a fireside chat with Tim Bajarin Legendary technology analyst who has been around long enough to see furthest ahead.
We will explore Apple Watch as a very curious interaction between form and function, luxury and utility, exclusivity and ubiquity, tiny screens and big audiences, short attention spans, big data.
We have developers, designers, investors, marketers and analysts contributing to what could be the biggest leap in computing since the smartphone.
If you are interesting in becoming one of the innovators on this newest of platforms or planning a strategy to invest, or even (actually especially) if you are a skeptic, you can’t miss this conference.
Join us for Glance, a deep look at Apple Watch, downtown San Francisco, December 10, 2015.
Early bird pricing is $495.
If you miss early bird, and you’re an Asymco reader, there is still a 30% discount.