So I read all the announcements from yesterday’s Apple event, and I was underwhelmed. It’s OK; they can’t always excite all of the people all of the time, but these things didn’t excite me.

There are two kinds of “underwhelmed” I feel with regards to Apple events. The eye-rolling underwhelm came, for example, when they introduced the iPod hi-fi and the iPod socks. Like, I get that there was a market for both, but I couldn’t believe Apple was making them.

At that level of underwhelm, my response typically doesn’t change over time.

There’s another level of underwhelm where I just feel like they made a project that’s not really for me, but I get why they’re doing it. One example of that is the Apple Watch, where I didn’t plan on buying it, ended up getting it on a whim, and really like the product.

For most of the announcements they made, I’m leaning towards the first type of underwhelm.

Apple Arcade is probably on the right path, focused on specific games, game types, and partnerships. I’d envisioned it as a way to get all the games without IAPs or ads. This is much more focused, and is probably a much better idea than what I had been thinking. That said, I’m nto a heavy-duty iOS gamer; it seems like the “single-serving” games I play–the type you can play a round in while waiting for an elevator–aren’t the focus.

Apple Channels could be great, but the problem is that with broadband duopolies, if I drop my cable subscription and get all my channels from Apple, my cable company will double the cost of my Internet connection, so the net benefit to me would be zero. I might even lose some money. If you’re primarily re-packaging other content, there has to be some serious convenience or cost benefit. It’s pretty much a no-go for me until and unless the duopolies are broken.

Apple TV+ could be interesting, but I’ll have to wait and see. I’m already paying for Netflix, and I’ve resisted Hulu so far. I’m on-again, off-again with HBO. I just don’t need any more subscriptions at the moment.

Apple News+ is a great idea, but again, there’s that subscription fatigue. Honestly, I think this should be bundled in with their other media services. I know it’s a stretch, but I’m not going to be listening to my favorite (Apple) music while watching the latest production from Oprah (Apple TV+) while reading (Apple) news (+) and browsing broadcast TV (Apple) channels. I’ll be doing one or the other at any given time, so it feels like if I’m getting it all from one source (Apple), then I should only pay one bill, and each added service should only be an incremental amount above the baseline. Let’s not forget that I’m also paying for iCloud storage, and by replacing my phone peridically–even if I wait three years!–I’m effectively paying $20/mo just for the device itself.

Regardless of whether they are for me or not, I feel that there’s also another hurdle that Apple faces, which is that they’re getting into markets that are crowded with good-enough versions of what they’re doing, arguably better versions in some cases. Steam for subscription games; Netflix, Hulu et al for subscription video. Maybe there’s no perfect analog in news, but “good-enough” is subjective, and most people are happy to get their news via posts from friends on Twitter and Facebook.

You could argue they faced the same issue with Apple Music, but they already had an infrastructure in place, they had really defined the digital download market in the post-Napster era. All they had to do was flip a switch and they became the most dominant music streaming service. And convenience is key on music; you just want it available wherever you are. For full-commitment video–TV series and movies, etc–the primary location for viewing is going to be seated comfortably at home, where there are a LOT of choices, and the value of it being integrated with your phone is less material. The incremental value of having an integrated system to carry with you seems to me to just not be that great.

I’m not going to go so far and say these services are going to fail; I’m sure Apple have done their homework. However, I think there are going to be some hurdles to adoption, especially because the reasons to move to these services from other “good-enough” services are not great. They are only about as good or marginally better.

There’s an exception, though: I’m interested in the Apple card. The funny thing is that this service is also only “marginally better” than what the standard card providers are offering. A tiny bit more cash back, a tiny bit less interest, real time reporting without yet another third party app. Not revolutionary, but a tiny bit better.

The difference here is that even a tiny bit better feels significant in an industry that is so antagonistic to its customers. If I can pay a little less interest on the rare occasions that I have to spread out payments, then YAY! If I can get a physical card which doesn’t show its numbers to every security camera, then YAY! If I can get cash back right away, then YAY! If I can all do that without an annual fee, then YAY!

So I don’t think I’m going to be buying any iPod socks any time soon. Nor getting Apple whatever plus. But that credit card? Sign me up.