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Former NBA athlete Shaquille O’Neal made a stop by this year’s SXSW in Austin, Texas. After speaking during Qualcomm panel, the basketball star took some time to talk gadgets with Engadget’s Sarah Silbert. During the interview, Shaq professes his love for all things tech, even going as far as calling himself a “geek.” His favorite new device? The Fitbit.
When asked about his smartphone affiliation O’Neal mentions that — just like in real life — he’s no longer a married man, so when it came to the Android vs iOS debate, Shaq’s philosophy was simply, “why not both?” In the later part of the interview, Shaq talks about his connections in Silicon Valley, briefly mentioning how he spends around $1,000 a week on mobile apps, no small feet given the average paid application only runs about $3. Just so you know how crazy this sounds, that’s about $143 a day, on apps, or about 2 paid apps for every hour of the day. His favorite games? Deer-hunting.
Now that he’s no longer playing ball, it sounds like Shaq definitely has a lot of time on his hands.
We couldn’t get the Engadget video to embed, so instead, here’s a similar interview he did with The Wall Street Journal in which he makes the same $1,000 a week claim.
No self respecting “geek” would say that the fitbit is their favorite device. Geeks are on the bleeding edge. Maybe… He spends that $1,000 a week on apps that give him junk food from here to the sky.
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Many would say or think you commented without thinking but you’re right. The Fitbit doesn’t really mean much to anyone who doesn’t care about tracking exercise-related data etc. It’s far from the most exceptional piece of tech to geek out about. The OnePlus One phone, though, is a textbook example of a product any (Android) tech geek should like very much. Or Project Ara.
Feat. Not feet. Unless that was a weird Shaq pun, in which case, bravo.
I think he meant he spends over a $1,000 on viewing porn on the internet. Makes much more sense.
Or on giant shoes. Apps? Not very likely.
What?
This is barely worth writing an article about. He’s great for convincing celebrity/gossip fanatics that the iPhone isn’t the greatest achievement of the human race but beyond that he doesn’t do much that is positive for the tech industry.
Its probably accounting for music he downloads.
Music isn’t an app.
I’m sure he wasn’t quoting an exact amount, however, I’m sure it’s substantially more than your typical user.
Lighten up people, not every article here is going to focus on earth-shattering news on the latest & greatest……..
What? That’s it?..
If you count in-app purchases, I could see it.
I wanna see this guys base on Clash.
He is stuck on level 191 of candy crush
Not too hard to do considering some IAP approach $50 easily.
maybe he makes weekly purchases of the ‘I Am Rich’ app as a reminder to himself that he is really that rich.
Alienate headline: Shaq Has Too Much Free Time