Sensorstream, which calls itself a “struggling” San Francisco-based...
Sensorstream, which calls itself a “struggling” San Francisco-based startup, sees a $1 trillion opportunity in smart watches and their ecosystem of components, its founder, Tom Rapko, told us. Sensorstream just landed a design patent from the Patent and Trademark Office…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
for a circular smart watch case that’s buttonless with interior threading “to support an upgradable modular electronics package,” and the company is looking for partners, Rapko said. “The wearables business is going to go the way of a garage startup” reminiscent of Apple’s founding, Rapko said. “Even though the Valley is hugely software-centric, I think there’s a huge opportunity in the hardware space for wearables, and in particular, smart watches,” he said of developer work currently happening in the Silicon Valley on behalf of wearables. Rapko thinks smart watches will “drive disruptive innovations in social networking, entertainment and commerce,” he said. Sensorstream’s smart watch case is called Pi, the company said. It differs from traditional watch cases in that it’s devoid of all external buttons, to protect it from the elements, it said. The threaded design on its interior promotes adaptability to modular electronics that can be fitted in and enhances “the ergonomic contours of the smart watch to hug the wearer’s wrist for enhanced stability,” it said. Smart watches have the “potential to rival” or exceed the most successful consumer electronics “ever released” in terms of fast adoption rates, Rapko said. Form factors “will help shape consumer adoption of smart watches,” he said. “Aesthetically, we feel a circular display is superior to the dreary square. Frankly, the end game is fusing the look and feel of a Swiss luxury watch with the core functionality of a smart phone.”