A new “post-smartphone” device. Something that might change everything.
But I keep coming back to a simple question:
What’s the problem it solves?
Jony Ive is a brilliant industrial designer and by all accounts an extraordinary leader. But let’s be honest — the iPhone idea and experience wasn’t his. It was Jobs. Jobs saw the mess: a phone, an iPod, a camera.
Then he reframed the problem and made it disappear.
That’s what made the iPhone great. Not the curves. Not the chrome.
It was the clarity of the problem and the confidence of the solution.

Empty pockets.

Ive, post-Jobs, didn’t bring that same clarity. iOS7 was a disaster. I can't think of another a-ha moment. And now we’re promised a new device.
But I already have GPT on my phone and my watch. I already talk to it.
My emails, messages, group chats, work — all live there.
I open my car with it. It lets me in the house. I'm entangled!
So what’s broken enough to replace that?
I’m not doubting the talent. I’m questioning the brief.
If this is going to be the next BIG thing, it needs a Jobs-level insight —
not just a beautifully made thing that does what I already can do.
Will it be another Magic Leap? That didn't end well. Time will tell.

My bet? IO isn’t a device. It’s the start of a LifeOS.

Altman’s raised more capital than anyone in history—and he’s not done. The next bet? $5–7 trillion raise. To get there, you need to sell investors and consumers alike the plausible dream of exponential growth.

My take.

IO isn’t a product. It’s a Trojan horse for a new consumer platform: discrete, always-on wearables harvesting biometric and audio data, linked to an ecosystem of Apps (ChatGPT, Office), Services (Banking, Entertainment), and Smart Hardware (Car, Home, Phone). Let's not forget Microsoft are a key stakeholder.

It solves everyday tasks and enriches prompts with context—delivering faster, smarter responses without all the typing.

The hardware is just the interface. The real play is a persistent context layer powering micro-interventions:

– Speak → determine next best action
– Stress → adjust your calendar
– Pause → suggest what to say next
– Browse → make search faster

Voice-first on the move. Screen-aware when needed.
A new platform for contextual intelligence.

It’s designed to become people’s “core” device—after phone and laptop. Most don’t want more hardware in their pockets. But a ring? That’s plausible. It listens, captures biometric data, and slips into your life. Many already wear one. Many more might. Ive and Marc Newson have done a ring before too.

Altman paid a lot for IO. But what he was really buying is The Apple Playbook. Investors and consumers just get it, and it knows it.