"companion" products
Hmm. 3D printers and strap-on "companion" devices, that's a whole market opening I hadn't thought of before...
Consumers face a battle for their wrists as mobile vendors and consumer electronics upstarts pile into the wearable tech market over the next few years. But their foreheads will remain largely uncluttered, as head-mounted kit is likely to remain the preserve of Google fanboys – for the time being, at least, analysts at Canalys …
Why is it that these smart-watch articles - either here or elsewhere - never mention connected time-pieces from Citizen or Casio? True, they don't have colour screens, but they do provide notifications and have the benefit of looking like normal watches (Citizen's like a motor-racing style chronometer, and like any other G-Shock in the case of Casio).
There is going to be spectrum of functionality in smart-watches, from just doing the basics (incoming message alert) to the silly (side-loading normal Android apps onto the dual-core Galaxy Gear), and the chances are that any widely adopted solution will fall somewhere between the two.
They don't run apps, or at least the Citizen Proximity doesn't, it doesn't even have a display other than the watch face, so it's not really surprising it doesn't feature in smartwatch articles; ain't be no smartwatch. That having been said, it's a lot closer to something I'd actually buy; the fact that you don't need to charge the thing up is a deal maker, if it supported Android, I'd have one.
new Strava categories de nos jours:
Wanking, obviously, but Sproutling got me thinking. There has got to be suppressed demand for more competitive parenting opportunities. HR, Resps and core temp stats are probably out on ethical grounds but stools (rate, weight) perhaps? Tiredness (of parents as a result of disturbed nights) is a common competition category, but how to measure it?
So many 1st world problems...
I think the competitive stool weight would have to covered by the e-toilet. iBog, iPood, digiLoo... Obviously it would post a picture of stool with weight and size to Facebook / Twitter / G+. Presumably parents could join in the fun, as I'm sure the dad's would like to be able to compete with each other for who could managed the biggest post-curry-slurry.
I'm sure that with both an interactive toy and wristband for baby, you could also have excellent competition on who had the best motor skill development today, and which parents' child was going to grow up to be a genius - judged by about 6 months. Of course, the only problem with this, is that you'd have to program your device to say that about all babies, or you'd soon get a lynch mob of unhappy parents. It's funny how my Mum, who has a degree and an MA partly in child development is incredibly dismissive of people who display this tendency. And yet all 3 of her grandchildren show amazing early development and are clearly far brighter than average...
I personally believe that there is a market for a smart watches, but has already been covered by Garmin and Suunto..
Smart watches really have a niche market for runners or other athletes, who love to know how far, fast the run. This being very niche market, but none the less large enough for Garmin and Suunto to make good money..
Personally when I run I love knowing the pace, what distance I have remaining in race, etc... I love ability of looking at map of where I run and where I speed or slowed down, etc..
But as a every day watch, I personally only want the time... I don't like looking like a knob with my sports watch in the pub, so I prefer a minimalistic watch.
To use watch for internet, phoning for me would be annoying or have a very large watch face to make it impractical for a every day use.. Currently my smart phone is very easy to carry in my pocket ( but not practical for runs to look at and use), but my Suunto Ambit watch does all I need in that department.
If apple had a watch to market years ago, which did exactly what the Suunto or Garmin did for the fitness market with a easy interface, then they would have loads of them (but still way less then the number of ipods, iphones they sell).