Wearable Technology

In mid 2007 jobs released the iPhone, not everyone immediately saw the attraction, but it changed the “mobile” landscape for ever.

Smartphone Evolution Two years for the industry to catch up

iPhone Gen1 Samsung Galaxy Gen1

In two years the competition caught up and smartphones were everywhere, and almost every manufacturer had one in market

April 11, 2012, pebble launched a kickstarter campaign that changed everyone’s perception of wearables in a big way. $3million was pledged in the first day, and by the time the campaign was over they reached $10million in pledges. This is amazing for a few reasons, at the time kickstarter was new and didn’t have a very big audience, and secondly none of the big tech or watch brands had seen this sector as something that was worth investing in.

At this years CES, two years after the launch of the pebble, we’ve been inundated with “smart” devices from almost every major tech company .

And they’re all competing in this crazy land grab for hearts and minds. An example of this can be seen in Asia where advertising for smart watches and health trackers is everywhere.

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2014 Wearable Technology

Samsung gear Sony Smartwatch 2 Pebble Steel

Smart watches in the last 12 months

Metawatch

Motorola, Samsung, Toshiba, Fossil, Garmin, Timex, LG, Hyundai, Razer, Google, Sony, Qualcom all have products in market or are due to release this year. (and they all look very similar)

But there’s a problem, This is where they’re ending up, estimates are 1/3 of users are abandoning their devices in the first six months. Samsung is having trouble giving away their devices, the initial optimism we saw is falling off.

New to market is this beast, Google have spent a lot of time and money designing and marketing this device, the build, design and packaging is beautiful. And our clients are all super excited to start building experiences around the technology.

“!It makes you look like a dick on a Segway

But unfortunately we have a problem, I think Marc Newson said it best, “It makes you look like a dick on a Segway”, it’s totally true, you look and feel like a robot when u use this thing it feels like those Bluetooth headpieces. If we think about fashion and design when was the last time you bought a plastic thing to wear on your body? But all is not lost, some companies are starting to get the importance of aesthetics and designing with a “human” user in mind.

Like these guys. The shine is a device from misfit wearable’s and it’s a super slick looking device that tracks your movements.

Made of steel, its small can be worn as an accessory or hidden away if being a cyborg isn’t your thing.

It has a watch, pedometer, tracks activity and sleep. It looks great but seems like a solution looking for a problem, we already have devices that preforms most of these tasks and better, and we all have a phone in our pocket anyway.

Motorolla too look like they’re heading in the right direction for a sexy looking watch. In an interview from one of the lead designers they talked about their approach, the designer said we were trying to “just build a watch”. As simple as this sounds it’s a good place to start, I can almost guarantee that this was not the discussion when the galaxy gear was proposed.

And then after designing a watch, they looked beyond, and added features they thought they could add value, like maps and notifications. So the industry today is really at the cusp, we’re starting to mature to the point where non nerds (watch/tech etc…) are going to take these devices seriously.

So where do we see the future of wearable devices? How can we take that step from novelty to ubiquity? Here at Isobar we think we’re going to see three new directions this year from wearable tech, to take it into the mainstream.

The Future Design

Design is not just what it looks like but how it works. We’re going to see more holistic solutions that take into context multiple functions that provide real value in a beautiful way. Looking at wearable tech now it feels like this, lots of solutions looking for problems, the next breed I think will start to join the dots. All of the current tech fails the “leave home test” – essentially if I left home without it would I go back for it? This year we’re going to think twice.

The Future Utility

We want the smart devices to actually be smart, and offer a level of utility beyond “dumb” devices. One of the biggest issues facing our society in the digital age is authentication, how can we ensure you are who you say you are when you’re behind a screen? A device you always had with you could solve this problem in an instant, and be much more elegant and secure than the things we use currently like these RSA fobs. Imagine a bracelet that monitors your vitals and uses this biometric information to open your front door.

The Future Connectivity

Lots of these devices provide connectivity between a phone and the device, but what if we could look to extend this connectivity. Moving towards true connectivity we would like to see the device on my wrist monitoring my body temperature and then connecting to the thermostat and adjusting the heating to suit. Or judge my mood and set music to match, true connectivity like this will ensure the future of wearable tech, and this is where we think (hope) we will be headed in the future.

Let’s Chat! !Tim Evans tim.evans@isobar.com

We’re super excited about where wearable tech is going to take us this year, we havn’t seen a shift like this since the smartphone revolution 7 odd years ago! I’d love to hear you thoughts on were we’re headed and what you think the future will bring. Thanks let’s chat!