For many years, I’ve been interested and curious about what Humane was working on — I felt it had a good philosophy, different from going all-in on VR and AR.
But I became suspicious when Humane decided to show the device at a TED Talk and later at a fashion show.
When they first showed the pin at the TED Talk, I couldn’t believe it. Was this it? No, I told myself – this must be just a teaser, a different product to maintain secrecy, and I was sure they would release something else soon…
That was all.
The device and the website felt really polished and well-crafted, but the AI approach was disappointing and not at all surprising. I can do the same things with Siri, and Siri can barely do anything. Then they made mistakes with some data during the launch video! How? How could a company that raised $250M make such a huge mistake? I felt terribly disappointed and let down by people I had admired. People like Imran and Ken who were “geniuses” at Apple, people who had created the iPhone and taken interaction design to another level.
I know hardware has little chance of success, and I know how hard it is to make software work in the market, but I put so much confidence in Humane that I’m really sad this will likely just end with an acquihire.
Moreover, I’m fearful that now, nobody will be brave enough to challenge the smartphone, to break the status quo and present a different alternative to tech.
The Light Phone 3 seems like a fresh take though.
We shall see.