At the dawn of the wearables age, the competition among brands introducing smart watches is a proxy battle for who will win at miniaturization, processing and big data integration.
That’s why in spite of limited functionality or utility there’s a land rush among brands to stake out positions and develop attentive audiences for technologies that will evolve to sci-fi levels. Initially smart watches appeal to early adopters, gadget guys and geeks of both genders. From the manufacturers’ perspective, gaining early brand preference equals limitless long term potential.
Several factors will govern the pace of innovation and the scale of product differentiation. All smart watches rely on the Google-owned Android Wear operating system. Unlike the Android mobile OS, which has morphed into hundreds of variations, Google intends to tightly control this technology; the second version of which is slated for a mid-October release. If all manufacturers use the same basic operating system this levels the playing field.
At this moment, all smart watches are satellite devices synched and linked to smart phones. In the future miniaturization and software improvements will enable them to be independent devices. But today they are totally dependent on a smart phone for Internet access and most of their functionality.
If the OS and the tether to smart phones are at parity, design and form factors present opportunities for distinctiveness. Early models are boxy squares and rectangles. Upcoming offerings include semi and fully round models resembling classic timepieces.
Other sizes, shapes, materials and design elements will be introduced aimed at niche markets and key segments. Style and innovation will trump functionality and utility in the near term. Ironically many of the consumers who gave up watches when they got their latest and greatest smart phones will be wooed back by the cool factor.
Hardware engineering, which includes processing speed, functionality and interoperability of apps is the arena where brand reputations and early fan bases will be won or lost. Eventually every brand will be able to interconnect component tools and have apps that work together or cue each other. Early experiments and nascent tool sets will reveal how brands approach engineering development. Similarly the categories addressed, like fitness, travel, wellness or navigation, will signal brand calculations about where the wearables market is heading.
These five functional areas will be bell weather indicators for near term smart watch innovation:
Navigation, Location & Movement. The combination of gyroscopes, accelerometers, GPS devices and compasses create options to find and clock an individual, measure steps, gait and balance and serve up data or related ads. Where, when and how you go and how you get there and what you do on arrival al become triggers for interaction and engagement.
Ticketing & Access. These apps will become more sophisticated and require less and less bandwidth. Wave you watch across the scanner and board, buy a drink and check into your hotel or rental car. Ticket details will trigger suggestions, rewards, added color commentary, locations of friends or family and relevant ads.
Alerts & Notifications. Today they are solo and simple. Soon they will link discrete needs together and be triggered by time, temperature, schedules, movement, location or consumer action. Like today’s alerts, the initial response will be annoyance, followed by grudging acceptance. As they become more personalized, timely and relevant, will be considered indispensable.
Search. Text and voice search will be keyed to movement, location, past search history, web and social use, purchases and preferences. Search will also become much more social as individual results will track with their psycho-demographic and social graphs. Search will yield a dozen on-point answers rather than 10,000 page hits. SERPs will enable many interactive functions without leaving the page.
Tracking & Monitoring. Health, wellness and fitness apps are already gaining significant consumer traction. . The Pew Internet Project reported that 69 percent of Americans track some kind of health data. One in five use some form of technology. As sensors and scanners penetrate the skin and monitor discrete body functions more meaningful and actionable monitoring will take place.
In the not too distant future an array of sensor apps will monitor vital signs and measure specific symptoms will hit the market. The uChek Urine Analyzer app reads up to 10 biomarkers using reagent strips and the smartphone’s camera. It’s a virtual medical lab. An iPhone-based biosensor uses the camera as a spectrometer to detect viruses, bacteria, toxins, proteins and even allergens in food. The app is as accurate as a $50,000 laboratory spectrophotometer.
At this moment smart watches will be the desired gift for the geek on holiday gift lists. But before too long, wearables and smart watches will be useful tools we can’t live without.
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