This week's product announcement from Apple is notable, with the Cupertino, California-based company introducing three new products and a payment gateway that could rival PayPal. But perhaps most notable to the new entrepreneurs of Generation Flux is how personal this announcement was. The Flint Center venue, last used by Steve Jobs to launch the iMac SE and first used by Jobs 15 years introduce the world the first Mac, provided the perfect backdrop for Apple CEO Tim Cook to say:
"Apple Watch is the most personal device we've ever created."
From what we learned, it seems that the 'comprehensive health and fitness device' will provide more insight into our health and how we choose to spend our time than perhaps any device currently on the market. Work-life balance is the Holy Grail of what health and fitness devices offer, with the promise of leading a healthier life intimately tied to living a happier, more productive one.
Apple sells more merchandise dollars per square foot than any other retailer, bar none. Their announcement will no doubt influence other retailers and help to shape the products introduced by them in the coming weeks, months, and even years. Who doesn't want to live a healthier, better-balanced life and while achieving greater productivity?
Productivity, it could be argued, is one of the reasons Apple has remained successful. For example the MacBook is the standout laptop of choice among graphic designers and animators, often freelancers. Trendy, yes, but the powerful productivity justifies the cost over less expensive rivals. Once hooked, the usability of the Mac operating system makes it difficult for users to return to Windows. Similarly, the pioneering iPad provided a productivity boost to free time time, which few saw coming. And the iPhone crossed the boundaries of free and work time more seamlessly than any device that had come before it. In fact, it spawned an entire ecosystem, much of which is dedicated to productivity that we now know as the App Store.
Along with the Apple Watch, we see the introduction of two new iPhones, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, which at first blush appear to provide one of the best enhancements of all: The most clear, readable screen on the market, in larger sizes than exist now. The fact that they are thinner, and presumably easier to carry, is icing on the cake, allowing users to do more on a device that follows them in their pocket - or on their wrist - providing further liberation from the desktop.
Productivity is core to the advancement of society. As the only non-inflationary driver of growth, productivity is a key pathway from poverty. However, national productivity is largely a function of productivity levels at large corporations and government, over which we have little or no control. What we can control is individual productivity, which is key to the success of sole proprietors and freelance contractors. That's why Apple's launch is so important for economic growth. With more and more skilled labor striking out on their own as independent contractors and businesses de-centralizing and looking for talent in new ways, Apple underscores the importance of productivity by creating products that help make these individuals more productive at both home and work, with the promise of personal insight that makes managing work-life balance possible.