That Apple eventually will buy Headspace is pretty much a given. Of course I have no insight knowledge. But those two line will converge is pretty clear: Headspace is in the business of being good to its users. They benefit from their users making progress. Real progress. Not some fake Instagram like jolt to some addictive pattern. They seem to invest into content. Branching out into different areas. Sure you can easily obtain background noises to create an ambiance that matches your state by other means. But if you have an app that you trust, then they are your goto destination. We carry computers with us all the time. They do not serve us as well as they could. They know how we move, sleep, eat (indirectly, but easy enough) etc etc. There is tremendously potential in utilizing these devices for our good. Not just to drain usage (eyeball hours) out of us.
For every dollar Mr Zuckerberg makes he creates human suffering. Google is the same. Yes both companies also provide services to their users that have a positive effect. But in terms of net sum human impact FB is horrible. Google has search, which provides tremendous value. And it keeps getting better. But they also steer the Internet in general not into the best direction: Adwords and Youtube incentivizes content creates alike in not the best of all directions. Millions of people get paid by google to create content that is ‘juicy’. Well to consume so that eyeballs no longer go to Insta or Tiktok or whatever grows in those nucks and crannies below the floorboards of decency. A true race to the bottom. Grinding up the minds of generations of people, for the mere objective of maintaining your shareholder value. Nothing Sergey and Larry set out to do. But in the end that is what became their business.
Apple never was able to swim in that pond. Whether by intention, or just because they missed the boat: They can not harvest money out of the users like others can. So they are stuck. Stuck in a good place. They can care about the data of their users. They sell phones. If people look less at them but be happier for it it is actually good for them.
For a couple of days my Samsung A10 nudged me into enabling “find my device”. Nudge is an understatement. It was highly annoying, since I could not find a clear way to disable the constant and random reminders. I am otherwise fine with my luddite device. Having 2 SIM cards for instance saves me schlepping 2 Apple devices around. But those couple of days of messages make me hate Samsung. Enough that my blood, although no longer boiling, raises its perceived temperature coming to think about this. My solution would have been to buy Apple phones. They are not perfect. But they will respect me. Much like if I am booking a 5 star hotel I know that it will be quite quiet at the pool. If am at the Tropicana in Palm Springs I don’t have that expectation.
Apple can not really make content. And if they do, it is really really expensive. They know that. Headspace can make content. And they know how to fill that niche. Disney can not produce a meditation tape. They could, but it would be expensive too. And not that good. And they lack the mindset of Headspace: One that looks around and tries to look for things that will be good for people.
There is a H U G E market there. Not squeezing people like lemons, but rather help them to be good. Good and Happy people are a value that is M A S S I V E if you would try to express it in money.
Headspace + Apple makes allot sense in that view.