“All of these manufacturers and creators are charging forward into the smartwatch arena with some interesting and incremental improvements to the watch. However, none has created anything that will resurrect the watch for whole generations of people who have either abandoned it in favor of smartphone clocks — or never wore one in the first place,” Chris Maxcer writes for TechNewsWorld.
“Here’s what I see happening in 2014: The Android crowd will continue to release smartwatches and wearable jewelry, making progress… none of it will hit any sort of true tipping point of mass adoption until Apple joins the party,” Maxcer writes. “At that point, smartwatches will transition from becoming interesting gadgets to enter mainstream consciousness.”
“When you think through the elements, there’s a lot of reasons why this space won’t tip until Apple plays its hand. The most obvious reason is that Apple has at least 100 million truly loyal customers who at the same time make up a demographic that would consider dropping hundreds of dollars on a glorified watch. This set of customers won’t buy Android-based solutions in 2014,” Maxcer writes. “Apple’s iPhone-using population might be dwarfed by the overall Android-using population, but — even when you count the tech-lovin’ geeks who appreciate how well Android lets them tinker and play — the iPhone population of gadget buyers who will spend $200-plus on a wrist gadget is larger.”
Read more in the full article here.
I’m waiting for the Apple iBow Tie – like the ones that used to light up in the 1950s.
I’m waiting for Apple condoms with built in flashlight and iSight cam.
I’m waiting for an iPhone coughing up dollar and gold.
GREAT article (follow the link).
The author hits on some points that ring true with me. I have dabbled in the Nike Fuelband area, as well as the BodyMedia Armband. I found the BodyMedia solution to be cumbersome. And at nearly 50 years old, I didn’t want what looked like a child’s bracelet strapped to my wrist all day long.
I also don’t like the idea of using my iPhone during intense exercise. I tend to leave my iPhone at home when running, to avoid distractions, possible damage to my iPhone, security reasons (theft), and again, I find the weight and heft in an armband to be cumbersome. I usually run with just an iPod shuffle clipped to the back of my hat, and use a pair of EarPods.
I currently use on a regular basis a Withings Pulse – because it can be clipped in a pocket discretely. No having to explain to customers what it is like with a Fuelband.
All of that being said, if Apple can marry the functionality of a Fuelband into a device that looks like, and functions as a watch, I would be all in with JUST those features.
But as the author stated, I too am betting that Apple will come up with several other things the iWatch can do, that I can’t even imagine right now. And I mean more than reading emails, texts and taking photos.
Here’s hoping that whatever Apple is going to do with the iWatch, they at least announce it this year. Fingers crossed that they manage to release it this year too.
It’s that old chestnut of Apple stuff being bought only by it’s loyal customers.
I wonder if people like Chris Maxcer ever wonder how a company manages to get “at least 100 million truly loyal customers ?”.
There is no way on earth that 100 million people would decide to buy any Apple product if it were a poor product. You can only get 100 million happy customers if you provide them with the right sort of product and the right sort of service for the right sort of price. If another company can provide an equal or better product and service for a better price, I have no doubt that at least 99 million of those former Apple customers would buy that product instead.
This article doesn’t show the bias of the “blind loyalty” crap versus “100 million truly loyal customers.”
“Wearables” will be as important as QR Codes, Netbooks, Virtual Stores in Second Life, 3D TV, etc.
Yes, there will be athletes who appreciate the enhanced biofeedback and record keeping, people with health problems that are greatly assisted by the constant monitoring, but as far as the general mass market, “wearable tech” will be a simmering flop until some black swan product is launched.
Notifications and sensors seem to be what everyone talks about. Sensors will be distributed so much and in so many ways that no one will really know the brand.
Hopefully there will be some kind of consortium for capturing and storing health sensor data otherwise it will wind up being an unruly mess making it hard to switch from one vendor to another.
This continued media push for the “next big thing” is setting expectations way to high. If Apple introduces some kind of wearable tech that is demonstrably better than everything, including Motorola’s imaginary Moto 360, it will still be boring.