Edward Ahn

There is no successor to the smartphone. It's the terminal form factor. Much like the car is the terminal form factor for human transportation. Tesla has improved 1000x over the Model T but you still have the same cab riding on four wheels, because it's the optimal solution given the jobs to be done and constraints of reality. The smartphone has the most intense product market fit of any product ever for a reason: a computer you carry in your pocket and hold in your hand, with a screen you manipulate with your fingers, cannot be meaningfully improved upon for the jobs people want done. This doesn't mean there's not room for awesome new devices, especially with AI opening up new vistas. We have motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, e-bikes, and those funny one-wheeled vehicles you see whizzing through Golden Gate Park. We will have smart glasses, pendants, pucks, and whatever device Hark has in store. Hark seems like an S-tier team with an amazing vision, and I will probably buy their product. Moreover, I wouldn't want to live in a world where crazy ambitious visions aren't pursued with convert's zeal. Nevertheless, I'm writing this because every time I see a venture that explicitly or implicitly promises to supersede the smartphone, I think the same thing: It wouldn't matter if Jony Ive teamed up with the ghost of Steve Jobs and raised an army of the greatest HCI designers that ever walked the earth. It's structural. The smartphone is terminal.

I’m with Brad. Years ago I thought it was almost entirely a software problem and people would put up with a bulky headset if the software is great. I’ve completely flipped. The hardware has to be socially acceptable and very comfortable for mainstream adoption.