Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 107 posts

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#71

Post by Rover222 »

fidotron wrote: post #12

Both Apple and Google have dropped the ball enough with the state of recent releases that some iPhone-equivalent-disruption product from the AI industry is becoming conceivable, though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form. Putting a lot of effort into pushing complexity into software to reduce manufacturing complexity is precisely the sort of thing you worry about when you're ge…

"running Android in some form"

I think it's more likely it would be a radical departure from existing mobile OS.

More like an entirely generative experience. No discrete apps. The phone screen just morphs into whatever purpose you need at the time.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#72

Post by spiderice »

dktp wrote: post #28
giancarlostoro wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form. Just yesterday I saw a post I cant recall if on here or reddit, someone coded an entire OS with Claude Code, I would not be surprised if they invest AI compute at building an OS themselves, though I'd never buy a phone from these companies. The person got it running on bare hardware. Found it: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comme…

The issue is getting developers to create apps for a new OS nobody uses (yet). And nobody will use it if they can't have their banking app and uber on it This becomes even tougher if they go the Apple route and don't allow other phone manufacturers to use their OS. Alternatively, if they go down the Windows Phone route, we saw how that played out considering that Google _pays_ manufacturers to use Android Making OS i…

Obligatory RIP Windows Phone. I can't help but think about where it would have been today if they'd just stuck with it.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#73

Post by spiderice »

smith7018 wrote: post #51
theptip wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly this might be less of a problem these days. If the model is that you build a good dev API and everyone points their agent at the software they need, then you don’t need the huge corporate investment in a full ecosystem. To be clear I don’t think we are fully ready for this to work. But directionally the trend looks significant.

That's unfortunately a rosy view of it. It might be easier to take source from one platform to another but that was never the issue; the issue is keeping it up to date with releases, testing it as often as other platforms, and handling user support tickets. The chicken and egg situation still applies here and companies aren't going to spend all the time and money on a new platform if users aren't asking for it.

Every single thing you mentioned will be completely automated soon. 10 years max. Likely way less. That's my prediction at least.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#74

Post by thewebguyd »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #70
dktp wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is getting developers to create apps for a new OS nobody uses (yet). And nobody will use it if they can't have their banking app and uber on it This becomes even tougher if they go the Apple route and don't allow other phone manufacturers to use their OS. Alternatively, if they go down the Windows Phone route, we saw how that played out considering that Google _pays_ manufacturers to use Android Making OS i…

On the other hand, I'm perfectly fine with a high quality phone OS that has only stock apps out of the box and high quality hardware, good camera, good battery life, reasonable camera app, drastically more curated app store for professional apps, I'd be okay with such a competitor, no more ad spam apps. I don't think I've seen a phone take over enterprise the way that the Blackberry once dominated, now its either iPh…

It's a bit of a different world today then when BlackBerry dominated.

RIM essentially invented MDM which is what allowed it to take off in the enterprise, via BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Android and iOS didn't fully unseat them in the enterprise until third party MDMs were up to par and lock down the consumer devices just as effectively.

So whatever new phone/OS that wants to take a stab at the enterprise, out of the gate, must support MDM profiles from all the major ones at least (InTune, ManageEngine, MaaS360, etc.). Then, as you said, all the MFA apps, at least should have Slack/Teams, office apps, etc.

Not that it can't be done, but the cost of entry is much higher today if anyone wants to overcome the switching costs.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#75

Post by fragmede »

dktp wrote: post #28
giancarlostoro wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form. Just yesterday I saw a post I cant recall if on here or reddit, someone coded an entire OS with Claude Code, I would not be surprised if they invest AI compute at building an OS themselves, though I'd never buy a phone from these companies. The person got it running on bare hardware. Found it: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comme…

The issue is getting developers to create apps for a new OS nobody uses (yet). And nobody will use it if they can't have their banking app and uber on it This becomes even tougher if they go the Apple route and don't allow other phone manufacturers to use their OS. Alternatively, if they go down the Windows Phone route, we saw how that played out considering that Google _pays_ manufacturers to use Android Making OS i…

Except that emulation/VM and the web makes it viable. What do you want to do with the thing? Banking and Uber are two specific, mass-market adoption criteria, but there's a reason Windows is still around and it's not because of those two things. The issue is business and money and who's paying for things in the age of AI? I'll use a new OS for fun, for free, in my spare time, but if I have to pay money instead of time, then I'm going to have to think about it. Either way though, the AI lab's gonna get my money in order to do stuff with it.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#76

Post by thewebguyd »

macNchz wrote: post #52
ddarolfi wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be surprised if any AI forward OS is based around applications developed by other people. I imagine the OS will create the software you need. Thing's like banking apps are more difficult, but I imagine OpenAI could sort that out behind the scenes.

The idea of managing a consumer app API for which every client is auto-vibecoded to the user's preference sounds...fun. User: Hello Uber support? Yes, the app shows my driver is in the ocean off the west coast of Africa? And his ETA is -2147483648 minutes? Uber: Your app, your problem. User: Hello phonebrain, can you fix my Uber app? Phonebrain: You're absolutely right, I must have misunderstood the API docs. Squiggl…

And if it came to that, and that's how this OS worked, we'd see open APIs disappear real quick from all the popular services because of the support nightmare, and, services like Uber and others are going to want to maintain exclusivity with their first party app the moment vibe coding becomes that viable. APIs will get locked down, and we'll all be worse off for it.

If an "AI Phone" looks to be an existential threat to third party app devs and services, except everyone to do everything they can kill said AI Phone to protect their own products.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#77

Post by fragmede »

thewebguyd wrote: post #74
giancarlostoro wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, I'm perfectly fine with a high quality phone OS that has only stock apps out of the box and high quality hardware, good camera, good battery life, reasonable camera app, drastically more curated app store for professional apps, I'd be okay with such a competitor, no more ad spam apps. I don't think I've seen a phone take over enterprise the way that the Blackberry once dominated, now its either iPh…

It's a bit of a different world today then when BlackBerry dominated. RIM essentially invented MDM which is what allowed it to take off in the enterprise, via BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Android and iOS didn't fully unseat them in the enterprise until third party MDMs were up to par and lock down the consumer devices just as effectively. So whatever new phone/OS that wants to take a stab at the enterprise, out of t…

The cost of entry is higher, but everyone has more money though, in this analogy. AI can vibe code all that out if someone seriously wanted to compete.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#78

Post by fragmede »

palmotea wrote: post #50
iAMkenough wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI cameras won’t be accepted with open arms like the iPhone was 20 years ago. Might as well buy an Android if it’s an Android. For the mass market, the AI industry has a trust problem.

> AI cameras won’t be accepted with open arms like the iPhone was 20 years ago. Might as well buy an Android if it’s an Android. > For the mass market, the AI industry has a trust problem. Oh how far we've fallen! Everyone should invite an OpenAI into their homes to watch and hear their most intimate moments. Just think of the value! Next time someone fights with their spouse, the machine can email a summary with adv…

Why do you say that like it's not already happening?

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#79

Post by thewebguyd »

fidotron wrote: post #30
ungovernableCat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean by your own logic you can say you're doing the same thing. You think smartphones will get disrupted because you're bored by the mature form factor. I don't see that happening unless the new hardware and the way people interact with it is truly "magical" in some sense. Smartphones as a mature device category have so many things going for them that anything new will likely come as a complement for them (which ap…

> you're bored by the mature form factor. Actually, no. It's the irrelevant changes, such as Liquid Glass, which are the problem, where we all are made to learn new stuff to keep some designers busy. > I don't see that happening unless the new hardware and the way people interact with it is truly "magical" in some sense. But a truly AI enabled interface _would be_ magical. Being able to have a phone where your interf…

> where we all are made to learn new stuff

Liquid glass didn't require any relearning at all, the iOS interface changed aesthetics, not functionality. The OS has worked largely the same for the past 10 years since the iPhone X.

But I fail to see how an AI generated interface would be any better. What if after several back and forth with the AI, it still can't get the design right for you just so? It's not deterministic, you might get a different result every time you open your phone. Expecting third party services to leave their APIs open just so OpenAI phones can consume them is awfully optimistic as the moment such a device becomes an existential threat to third parties, APIs will start getting locked down.

By all means, OpenAI should try, not saying they shouldn't, but I'm not optimistic it'll be a success. The smartphone is already basically peak form factor. No one is going to want to carry around a second device, which is why every other AI device/pin is DOA. It has to come out of the gate ready to fully replace someone's smartphone and the surrounding ecosystem of it or it also is DOA. Good camera? Support spotify/apple music? messaging, video calls, airdrop/nearbyshare, works with smartwatches and fitness trackers, etc. If it doesn't, it will fail.

Re: OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300M

#80

Post by NetOpWibby »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #18
fidotron wrote: post #12

Both Apple and Google have dropped the ball enough with the state of recent releases that some iPhone-equivalent-disruption product from the AI industry is becoming conceivable, though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form. Putting a lot of effort into pushing complexity into software to reduce manufacturing complexity is precisely the sort of thing you worry about when you're ge…

> though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form. Just yesterday I saw a post I cant recall if on here or reddit, someone coded an entire OS with Claude Code, I would not be surprised if they invest AI compute at building an OS themselves, though I'd never buy a phone from these companies. The person got it running on bare hardware. Found it: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comme…

That's just incredible, wow.
Post reply on HN