Wearable Tech is today’s hot commodity of the tech industry. Players such as Pebble, a KickStarter phenomenon, Nike, and Sony are taking the reign, and others, such as Apple and Google, are due to join the fun by end of year or early next year.
In the past few years we have seen that mobile technology as a whole has grown at an explosive rate, astonishing consumers and pushing the imagination of developers. As we continue to close the gap between reality and science fiction, the next chapter in our evolving age of innovation is undeniably called Wearable Tech. And with these advances comes a natural curiosity about the effect wearables will have on our lives and the world around us. This three-part series will help provoke your thoughts and expand your ideas on wearable technology.
Is It Here to Stay?
With Kickstarter’s record-breaking Pebble recently hitting the market and other products like Smart Watch (Sony), and Fuel Band (Nike), already on consumer shelves, it seems like the race is off to a good start.
Nike+ FuelBand has been selling for over a year and has undoubtedly turned some heads. Before the FuelBand was released to the public, it was available for pre-order on Nikestore.com where it was quickly sold out the same day in approximately 4 minutes! In the months following the pre-order fiasco, consumers saw the potential of the product and FuelBands were found on eBay selling at double the pre-order price. Therefore, showing the consumer’s desire to see these types of products come to life. Not convinced yet? Then let’s take a look at something more recent like the Kickstarter MVP, Pebble.
Before Pebble even hit shelves, the concept garnered the attention of 70,000 investors leading to a whopping $10 million dollars in funding! If money could talk, it would say that consumers are not only fascinated by wearable technology, they are willing to invest in it.
And where do the other players stand? Google has already been promoting their Google Glass for quite some time and the hype around it is almost overwhelming. Apple, who has yet to officially announce a product to the general public, has patented their very own iWatch. It is generating large amounts of press as consumers anxiously wait to see how it will impact the market. Who better to lead this new age of tech then the two mobile champions?
In a report issued by Credit Suisse regarding the rise of wearable devices, it was stated that the estimated worth of the industry is between $3-$5 billion. These figures are projected to grow 10 fold within the next three to five years as these almost surreal ideas penetrate the market. “We’re in the Palm Pilot stage of wearables,” stated Jef Holove, Chief Executive of Basis Science at this year’s MobileBeat conference. I couldn’t agree more.
We are quickly moving towards a reality where almost all interaction will somehow involve technology. The more we push the boundaries of technology, the more movies like Minority Report are stepping into our reality. And with the large number of consumers already indulging in wearables as well as the promise for more sophisticated products to come, we can’t help but wonder; is wearable technology here to stay? Without a doubt in my mind, YES!
Sources
http://blog2.businessoffashion.com/2013/05/wearable-technology-market-set-to-explode-could-reach-50-billion-says-credit-suisse.html
http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/09/wearable-computers-will-be-inside-us/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike%2B_FuelBand
http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/16/project-glass-and-pebble-style-smart-mobile-wearables-to-fuel-1-5bn-market-by-2014-says-analyst/
