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It is a super exciting time for wearable entrepreneurs! The early generation of wearables has offered a promising step towards what could be achieved over time with the new generation of wearable products.
The wearable industry is still in its infancy. Although wearable makers have spent significant effort to marry hardware and software technologies and build cool products, there is still a lot to be discovered, learned, and applied in this industry.
As a wearable maker, there are six elements to consider and successfully navigate in order to build a winning product that will be adopted by the majority of the population:...
Too many technology-led companies see wearable devices as simply the next wave of smartphones or accessories and pay lip service to aesthetics and style, according to Saverio Romeo, principal analyst at Beecham Research, who has detailed his opinion on the future of the wearable technology market in a new report.
The report highlights mistakes being made by many companies trying to grab a share of the much hyped wearable tech opportunity and provides a very different vision and set of predictions, compared with much of today’s thinking.
“Current market forecasts are based on a smartphone-centric view of wearable technology,” said Saverio Romeo. “We see wearable tech as playing a critical role in the drive to greater connectivity and the Internet of Things, where we will interact with intelligent spaces through wearable devices. But while these devices may have some smartphone functionality, they will be much more than smartphones.”...
...Given how quickly the wearables market is developing, Snodgrass believes marketers need to carve out a small amount of budget now to do what he calls micro-tests. “Focus half of your mobile team on trying to understand and explore how this new market works. At the least, the market share for mobile will flow naturally into the market share for wearables.
”Schonfeld concurs, saying marketing teams will benefit from some wearables-spurred experimentation — even if it doesn’t yet lead to integrating wearables in the marketing strategy. “For quantified-self wearables, it’s all about the data. How can brands tap into that data or enhance it to actually deliver value to consumers? Glass is more experimental, but thinking about ways to market on a heads-up screen could lead to broader insights about mobile marketing in general.”...
Is there a wearable that tracks all of the predictions on wearables? (Asking for a friend.)
Today’s wearable devices will likely experience the same rise and descent as products like the Flip camera or the single-purpose e-reader, Forrester Research predicts in its latest report.
Wearables “will flourish all through 2015 until 2016 when their functionality is assumed by other devices you are already carrying anyway, from obvious contenders like smartphones to more intriguing ones,” writes Forrester analyst James McQuivey. An example of possibly more intriguing tech would be sensor-laden headphones, he says, which suggests a “strong reason for Apple agreeing to buy Beats Electronics for $3 billion.
”There are a handful of reasons why McQuivey says still-new wearable tech will go the way of the e-reading market in the U.S., which the research firm believes will shrink from a mature market of 25-plus million owners in 2012 to a mere seven million owners by 2017....
Apple Insider reports: “A batch of Apple patent filings published on Thursday describe a system of interconnected sensors — some being wearable devices — that work with an iPhone hub to monitor activity levels, dynamically set or cancel alarms and manage push notification settings, among other automated tasks.” ...
Since 2009, investors have poured over half a billion dollars into wearable tech startups.
This isn’t surprising when you consider that wearable tech (including smart glasses, watches, and fitness bands) is still an early adopter market and already estimated to be worth $3 billion.
In 2016, estimates suggest that 100 million wearable tech devices will be shipped. That’s ten times the number of devices expected to ship in 2014.
So, how does this affect our jobs as marketers? What might we be doing differently in 2016 or 2020, if wearable technology reaches the level of adoption that’s expected?...
“We’re very close.”
In just three words, Palmer Luckey of OculusVR fame, perfectly summarized not only where virtual reality stands, but perhaps the entire neurogaming industry. Luckey was on hand to present with other industry leaders for the 2nd edition of the NeuroGaming Conference, an annual event in San Francisco. Last year’s conference signaled the birth of an industry segment that should forever replace traditional gaming as we’ve known it. Sales of videogames for casual gamers are in decline, but a new and ultimately more meaningful form of gaming has already taken shape to replace them.
But what are neurogames exactly?...
In the words of Aldous Huxley: “There is only one corner of the universe that you are certain of improving and that is your own self.” Wearables are THE tool for self-improvement....
...During this early experimentation in the wearable space (so early the word itself hadn’t yet been coined), we experienced first-hand the challenge of creating a compelling wearable that turns analog, human-derived signals into meaningful digital data — a deeply intricate exercise, which, turns out, requires a lot more than mere conviction.
That prototype never made it to market.
We have since then continued to chip away at our ignorance. Fast-forward six years — two and a half years after founding OMsignal, with a small but multidisciplinary team of medical and bio-engineering scientists, hardware and software engineers, product design specialists as well as smart-textile engineers and fashion artisans — we now know a great deal more about what it takes to develop the science, technology, and user experience required for a fully integrated consumer wearable product..
The ‘Quantified Self’ is a thrilling prospect for some: Massive datasets about oneself can be a new route to self-discovery. But for most of us, the idea of continuous self-tracking is a novelty that results in shallow insights. Just ask anyone who has bought a Fitbit or Jawbone Up which now lies dusty at the bottom of a junk drawer.
For the Quantified Self movement to become truly useful, our gadgets will have to move beyond the novelty of gratuitous behavioral data, which we might call a ‘first degree of meaning.’ They’ll have to address a second degree of meaning, where self-tracking helps motivate people toward self-improvement, and a third degree of meaning, where people can use data to make better choices in the moments when a decision is actually being made. We’re moving closer to those goals, but we’re still not thinking rigorously about the challenges involved. So let’s start....
Adventures with a new platform called SmartThings.
Imagine coming home after work. Your door unlocks as it senses you approaching. When you step inside, the lights come on and the thermostat adjusts to the perfect temperature. If you’ve reached your fitness goals for the day, your TV turns on and a machine pours you a glass of whiskey. If you haven't, your stereo plays “Eye of the Tiger,” prompting you to get dressed for the gym. Hours later, when you climb into bed, your door locks automatically and soothing ocean sounds play; when you wake up the next morning, your coffeemaker starts brewing.
This sounds like a Jetsons plot premise, but it's what we've been promised by futurists in Silicon Valley for years. They call it “the Internet of Things” — a system where every object is connected to every other object via the Internet — and until recently, it was a kind of amorphous geek fantasy, reserved in practice for early adopters and the ultrarich. (Bill Gates has had such a system installed in his mansion for years.) For normal people, though, the Internet of Things has been slow to arrive.
So when a company called SmartThings offered to send me a kit that would help me connect all of the devices in my home, I was skeptical. Why would I need this? How would it help me?
But after a week of testing it, I’m convinced the Internet of Things is almost here. And it could be huge....
THE future of fashion is not simply trendy clothes.While style connoisseurs follow the likes of Prada, Gucci and Josh Goot for their cues, the rest of us will look to technology brands this year to define what we wear.
“Technology is now completely ingrained in our interaction and relationship with fashion and retail,” says Arabella James, a futures consultant at The Future Laboratory.
“It is now part of every shopping moment, from inspiration and production to purchase decision and transaction.”So what do you need to look out for this year? These are the hi-tech fashionable extras coming to a store near you....
Wearables: Everybody in the tech world is talking about them, but no one has quite nailed it -- yet. The category, which includes everything from smart glasses that record video to watches that answer phone calls, is generating some of the biggest buzz in the tech industry, and for good reason. Wearables are a long way from overtaking smartphones, but the market is expected to grow at a fast pace over the next few years.
Perhaps no one has a better view of what's ahead in the wearables market than the companies supplying the critical components. CNET talked with top executives from ARM Holdings, Broadcom, Freescale, Intel, Mediatek, and Qualcomm -- which will supply the brains and wireless chips for these devices -- to find out their views on where wearables are going. Here are some of their thoughts...
...the latest episode lampoons Google Glass perfectly (called “Oogle Glasses” in The Simpsons’universe), with an episode called “Specs and the City”. If you’re living in the US, you can watch the episode here.
I get what The Simpsons is trying to do here, and you can see it for yourself when you’re out and about in your city. We’re all buried in our smartphones and the few with Google Glass are on another level to us....
Firstly, this was The Simpsons' finest half-hour in years. The last time I laughed at an episode, I had just purchased an Xbox 360. It was 2008. That ...
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The smartwatch market is dominated by Samsung, followed by Sony and Pebble, according to a mid-May Strategy Analytics report, but that may change as soon as Apple’s rumored iWatch launches.
Obtained by Forbes, a new research note from Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty reveals that Apple’s ecosystem strength and consumer loyalty are going to drive an incredible amount of sales in the first year alone.
Citing data from AlphaWise, Huberty says that Apple’s brand loyalty continues to grow and that, thanks to its integrated ecosystem of devices and the “halo effect,” Apple may be able to sell more than 30 million iWatch units in the first 12 months, for $300 a pop. iWatch sales would bring in an extra $9 billion in revenue, and $0.49 EPS – that’s the “worst case” scenario, with the stock seen driving up to $110 as a result.
In the “bull case,” Huberty sees Apple selling 60 million smartwatches in the first year, with stock hitting $132 by the same time next year....
...Now, clearly, an iWatch will receive. It will be a screen. And a few months ago I would have imagined that its primary purpose would be to offload push messaging, step tracking, heart rate monitoring, music controls and other functions from the phone to the wrist. (And all of these things will likely be true).
But there’s potentially another paradigm in place – one that will be recognized by those who think long and hard about beacons. Because in addition to being another screen, data capture device and interface controller, I think the real value of an iWatch could come from someplace else.
Because what if, much like beacons, the iWatch was less a receiving screen and instead was more like a broadcaster? What if your watch was, like a beacon, a way to signal to the world around you: “I’m here, and here are the permissions I’m giving you, here are the rules of my being in this space, and if I choose to I’ll share my identity or let you send me messages and communicate.”
In this view, an iWatch (and other future wearables) shouldn’t just be a screen programmed to receive.
It’s a wearable form of identity and intent....
A London-based startup has created an app that lets users take pictures simply by concentrating.
Created by design studio This Place, MindRDR uses both Google Glass and a brain activity-monitoring device to take photos and then post them to social media without ever touching a screen.
The brain activity device — known as the Neurosky EEG biosensor — tracks the kind of neural patterns the brain exhibits when it's focusing on something. MindRDR then translates those patterns into actions — telling Glass to take a photo and then post it, all powered by thought....
Investment firm Piper Jaffray has published the results of their recent fashion-focused survey, and while the poll was mostly about fashion and jewelry, it did touch on Apple’s much-rumored “iWatch.” The poll found that 14% of consumers would buy an iWatch that was priced at $350. Interest in such a device varied greatly based on price....
Ringly lights up or vibrates when you get a text.
The latest in wearable tech doesn't look much like tech at all.
Ringly is an 18k-gold plated ring that connects with a smartphone to discreetly notify the wearer when she gets a call or text.
The idea is to incorporate tech into women's everyday accessories so that they can enjoy the moment without missing something important— even when they're not wearing pockets or holding a bag....
Google's been hard at work trying to prove that its Glass headset is more than just a toy for tech nerds, and one way its been doing that is by flaunting the eyewear 's photography capabilities.
Some Explorers have been doing amazing things with Glass since the program launched nearly two years ago. Here's a taste of some of the best Glass photography....
A recent, widely circulated study found that one-third of Americans who bought a wearable tech product ditched it within six months.
On one recent morning, I counted 960 items listed in a search for Jawbone UP on eBay. There were 242 for UP24s. And for Fitbit Flex, it was even worse: a whopping 1,356 items, many deeply discounted. (Yes, it should be noted that most of these were accessories, with only 584 full-fledged trackers.)
These numbers underscore a larger potentially dispiriting trend for makers of wearable technology: according to fresh findings from Endeavor Partners, one-third of Americans who bought a wearable product ditched it within six months. Moreover, while one in 10 American adults own a Fitbit or Jawbone or some other fitness and activity tracker, half of those products now do little more than collect dust.
So what's going on here? Is wearable tech really a (no longer walking) dead market before its had much time to live?...
Smartphone mapping features are great for getting directions, until you lose signal. But you could avoid getting lost in the woods with a guiding system embedded in your body.
Electronic engineer and biohacker Brian McEvoy has designed the first internal compass, and will be the first test subject. The 'Southpaw' -- inspired by the North Paw bracelet - works by sealing a miniature compass inside a silicon coat, within a rounded Titanium shell, to be implanted under the skin. An ultra-thin whisker juts out, which is activated when the user faces north, to lightly brush an alert on the underside of the skin.
"For a disc shape, it would be best located near shoulder", says McEvoy, ahead of the procedure. "I don't foresee any safety issues". Materials and shape have been chosen for the body's tolerance of them, but the Minnesota biohacker is working with experts to minimize risk before going under the knife....
Wearable computing isn't just a trend for fitness companies. Here's why you need to start thinking about your strategy now.
Several years ago during the holiday time, my digital experience consultancy AnswerLab decided to invest in a Fitbit for every employee. This decision was part of our ongoing effort to make AnswerLab a great work environment, and a way to get our team thinking about the future of how humans interact with technology. Becoming a Fitbit office upped everyone's general awareness about health and fitness and broadened our awareness of technology design. It reminded us of how far society has come: from using a computer mouse to swiping screens of diminishing sizes to using devices that connect the organic with technology as part of an entire interconnected ecosystem. Fitbit is now a leading example of the rapidly-growing wearable computing category. In fact, wearables and user experience were huge topics at SXSW in Austin, Texas, this month.
To get a pulse on how companies are thinking about wearables and their businesses, AnswerLab asked some of our peers in the digital product and marketing arenas to weigh in. An overwhelming majority (89 percent) of digital executives questioned believe that wearables will gain mass-market adoption in the next three years. However, only 27 percent are currently working on integrating wearables in their development plans. (You can read more about AnswerLab's wearables survey here.)...
Data is nice, but understanding is better" Jawbone health platform product manager Andrew Rosenthal tells us, snapping his black UP24 around his wrist. You can't accuse the former MIT hacker of lacking confidence about either his employer or its product, the wildly successful UP range of fitness trackers now among the best-known wearables on the market. Nor can you doubt his enthusiasm for that data's potential to amount to far more than a tally of your steps.
"Tracking is the data, and that's really important to get right, but that's table stakes at this point and we've spent the past two and a half years getting that right" Rosenthal points out. "The reason Jawbone's going to win in this space, the differentiator in the market, is going to be the ability of companies to make sense of the data, to put it in context, and then to help their users actually act on it, and change their behavior."...
Though it is already the second wave of smartwatches this product type is still at an early market stage. Especially when looking at their role in the wearables consumer market in 2013 and compared to the current success of activity trackers. However, there are many smartwatches available right now which in some cases even can replace activity trackers or offer other additional features for gadget enthusiasts. The products available show there are many approaches to produce smarter watches by enhancing them with software features. Find out what the market has to offer and whether the right fit for you already exists in our smartwatch overview...
When asked whether he’s looked into Google Glass, Dorsey had the following to say:“I don’t think glasses are the answer. I think it might be a 10-year answer, but not in the next five years. Maybe if they’re in sunglasses or what not. I think the movement you see around Fitbit, Up and FuelBand, that seems to be the next step in wearable. So something on the wrist that feels natural, almost feels a bit like jewelry. Glasses are very compelling and I think it’s an amazing technology, but I just can’t imagine my mom wearing them right now. What is the value of Glass?”
Google Glass was announced last year at Google’s I/O developer conference but the consumer version of the product isn’t expected to be released until the end of 2013, or a year-ish from now, depending on who you talk to. Apple has yet to announce its rumored iWatch product, but some rumors have pointed to a late 2013 or early 2014 release date.
When asked specifically, whether he had more faith in the rumored iWatch, Dorsey replied: ”(Laughs.) I don’t know, I think there’s a lot going on. The Pebble watch I think is pretty compelling as well.”...
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Good overview of the challenges facing world of technology makers.