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Without Apple to lead the way, current crop of clumsy wearable gadgets not ready for prime time

“Despite the hoopla, wearable gadgets like wristwatches for checking your text messages or eyeglasses that capture video are unlikely to make a splash with consumers anytime soon, given the clumsy designs, high prices and technological constraints of many of the current offerings,” Noel Randewich and Jeremy Wagstaff report for Reuters. “That is the conclusion drawn by many industry executives and analysts who trolled the vast exhibition halls of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.”

“Most of the wearable products on display at the industry’s premier showcase looked like awkward attempts to shoehorn technology into new forms without an original or compelling benefit for the wearer, skeptics say,” Randewich and Wagstaff report. “Samsung’s $300 Galaxy Gear may have had the biggest launch of any wearable so far – but it was panned by reviewers.”

“Some experts said Apple may have the best chance of developing a gadget that will propel the wearable category into prime time, given its track record in consumer devices,” Randewich and Wagstaff report. “‘2014 will be more a year of attempts than of successful products. And for a lot of manufacturers it will be a matter of waiting to see what Apple does,’ said Carolina Milanesi, a consumer tech analyst at Kantar Worldpanel.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple leads. The also-rans follow. As usual.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]

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