Apple’s decision to scale back on the number of health sensors originally planned for the Apple Watch is likely cause for relief among consumer health device makers, Parks Associates analyst Harry Wang said in a blog post. Wang cited a Wall Street Journal story Tuesday that said efforts to integrate multiple health sensors to detect functions including blood pressure, skin perspiration and heart activity were scrapped for reasons including reliability, complexity and required regulatory oversight. The news is likely “welcoming” to health device makers “nervously watching and waiting for the Apple Watch’s impact to unfold,” Wang said. He compared the arrival of the Apple Watch to the iPhone that has “rendered so many single-functional device categories into obsolescence and left many traditional consumer brands in shackles.” Sources in the medical field have feared that the arrival of the Apple Watch will “kick off the era of multi-sensor health monitoring design” and a subsequent consolidation of brands that manufacture single-function ECG meters, blood pressure monitors and pulse oximeters, Wang said. Health device makers were “excited about the prospects” of increased visibility that Apple Watch could bring for the various tools available for health monitoring on one hand, but also concerned that “less sophisticated” technologies could confuse consumers with “poorly collected data and attract unwanted regulatory scrutiny to this market” on the other, Wang said. The analyst applauded Apple for “following its principle of not bringing inferior user experience to the market.” He said the decision illustrates that the health monitoring technology “still has frontiers to conquer,” since a company like Apple was challenged to deliver a “perfect 10” experience to the market. Apple representatives didn't comment.
Google shelved its Glass Explorer program last month, but that’s not stopping Sony from moving forward with its SmartEyeglass project, announced in September. In a news release Tuesday, Sony said it has begun taking pre-orders for the SED-E1 SmartEyeglass Developer Edition ($840) in Germany and the U.K., and that the glasses will be offered for sale there and in the U.S. and Japan beginning March 10 “to explore the possibilities” of the technology and “facilitate the development of apps for the device.” Sony is targeting consumer and commercial availability for 2016. The developer edition glasses will be offered for sale to enterprise customers in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden beginning March 10 “to promote app development for industrial use,” Sony said. The glasses will be sold through the Sony Developer World application development support website, the company said. In addition to the hardware, Sony also will provide the official release of the software development kit for SmartEyeglass, an upgraded version of the Developer Preview SDK that has been available since September. Beyond glasses, Sony has sights on “the future of wearable devices and their diversifying use cases,” it said. Sony defines SmartEyeglass as transparent lens eyewear that connects with a smartphone running Android 4.4 or later. Sensors inside the 2.7-ounce glasses include a CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass, brightness sensor and mic, according to specs, and the glasses work with a smartphone’s GPS sensor to provide data “tailored to the user’s immediate circumstances,” the company said. Sony tapped its hologram optics technology for the lens, which achieves transparency of 85 percent at a thickness of 0.1 inch, it said. Consumer applications could include game play, display of social networking service messages during an event and delivery of sightseeing information in a tourist location, Sony said. In a disclaimer, Sony said potential use cases for this device are “under consideration, with app development, market research, and field testing still continuing.” Suggested use cases have not been tested or confirmed, it said.
Many broadband innovations could help people get and stay healthier, Chris Gibbons, FCC distinguished scholar in residence, said Friday in an agency blog post. Gibbons highlighted wearables, like watches that track pulse rate and other vital signs. “Beyond medical monitoring, such wearables may also help improve athletic performance, track fitness goals or help prevent dangerous falls in the elderly,” he wrote. Gibbons mentioned “ingestibles,” including smart pills that use wireless technology to help monitor internal reactions to medications. Digital “embeddables” also offer a bright future, he said. “In the future, embeddables may use nanotechnology and be so tiny that doctors would simply ‘inject’ them into our bodies. Some promising applications in this area could help diabetes patients monitor their blood sugar levels reliably and automatically, without the need to prick their fingers or otherwise draw blood.”
Certification services for the burgeoning wearables category appear to be springing up nearly as frequently as new smart watch introductions. Months after services like Intertek and TUV Rheinland introduced new certification services for smart watches and other types of wearables (see 1407080027), UL Consumer Technology announced the launch of a “comprehensive service” for wearables that it said will include “customized product validation, advisory, testing, risk mitigation, interoperability and global market access services.” UL’s program “will help to assist manufacturers in supplying consumers with safer and more reliable wearable products while reducing the time to market,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. With global sales of wearables projected to reach $100 billion by 2018, it’s “critical for manufacturers to understand the mandatory evaluation and testing considerations applicable to the components and materials used in wearable technology products,” UL said. “In addition to regulatory compliance issues, meeting product performance and reliability expectations are essential for widespread acceptance in the marketplace. User safety is paramount for wearable technology products as they are used for a prolonged period in direct contact with the human skin and rely on wireless technologies to transmit and receive personal information.” Lacking the “appropriate testing,” many brands could fall victim to recalls, returns and damaged reputations, it said.
Nearly “every big tech company” at CES used the event to announce a product “that can be worn close to or on the body,” Riddhi Patel, DisplaySearch research director-consumer insights, said Wednesday in a blog post. Wearables “are available in all shapes and sizes,” whether buckled onto the wrist or “stuck to the body” with adhesives, and they’re capable of “monitoring everything from movement of the body to vital medical information to sleep patterns,” she said. “However, we are no closer to answering the question of what problem these devices really solve, or indeed what their enduring value will be.” Contrary to speculation last fall that the Apple Watch would deliver a killer app, the product, as introduced, “did not result in a Eureka moment,” she said. “These are exciting times, and all this leads me to believe that the near future holds a lot of promise for both consumers and the wearable value chain. Maybe the next CES will see some players dropping out of the market, some having more established plans, and some emerging as clear leaders as the industry slowly discovers where lasting value lies.”
Eatoni, a software-based keyboard company, announced a “pure swipe keyboard” designed for typing on a smart watch. With the Eatoni keyboard app, letters are arranged around a watch face and each letter is selected with a swipe, the company said. “With practice, you can input an entire word in a single fluid motion,” the company said in a Tuesday news release. Typing a few characters enables users to “meaningfully respond” to a notification, search for a contact, launch an app or play a game, Eatoni said. "The more a smart watch helps you keep your phone in your pocket or purse, the more successful it will be," CEO Howard Gutowitz said.
The global smart watch market has the “potential” to reach $32.9 billion in annual sales by 2020, based on a 67.6 percent compound annual growth rate through the end of the decade, Allied Market Research said Thursday in a report. Smart watch adoption is growing by double digits globally, led by North America, which accounts for a third of the world’s market penetration, the report said. “However, in the near future, the growth of this market is expected to be driven by the Asian region and China emerging as a popular hub, as it would evolve as a low-cost smart watch manufacturer.” But the report estimates North America will remain the dominant smart watch market through decade’s end, reaching $11.2 billion in sales by 2020. “Over the next decade, the market is expected to witness product based revolution with newer sensor technologies emerging. Further, since the market is still in its evolutionary phase, it would create opportunities for new companies to enter the market, eventually leading to an increased level of competitiveness.”
Fashion watch companies are teaming up with technology companies to venture into the smart watch category, we found at CES. Fossil Group announced it's collaborating with Google and Intel to create “distinctive accessories” that connect customers with information and brands they desire, the company said in a news release. And Guess was featured in the Martian Watches booth at Pepcom’s Digital Experience. Guess is using Martian Watches’ technology in a high-end smart watch due out in summer, Stanley Kinsey, Martian Watches president, told us. “Guess took their top design and put Martian inside,” Kinsey said. Martian will launch nine new models of its own this summer ranging from $199 to $399, and he expects the Guess watch to come out at the high end of that range. At Fossil Group, meanwhile, challenges facing wearables today are “aesthetics and the overall branded experience,” said Greg McKelvey, chief strategy and marketing officer. Technology is at a point “where we are much less limited” in the ability to deliver the kind of experience Fossil customers want from fashion wearables, McKelvey said. Fossil's goal is to “make 'tech on the wrist' not just culturally acceptable, but also outright desirable,” he said. Fossil’s connected accessory products will include jewelry and watches with and without digital displays, the company said, and the branded products will share a common software platform, enabling customers to buy multiple connected accessories within and across brands, he said. Fossil Group’s brands include Fossil, Skagen and Michele. For Fossil, the connected experience is “not just about wearables,” McKelvey said. “We're extending our capabilities from a focus on hardware to a dual focus on integrated hardware and software design and development,” he said. Fossil is “defining and building this category based on the premise of connecting customers” to tailored information they want, he said. How far technology will be able to penetrate the watch industry remains to be seen, though. A store employee in a luxury watch boutique at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas told us there were no smart watches in the collection and not likely to be in the near future. The shop carries sophisticated and glittery watches from Rolex, TAG Heuer and Breitling, she said, saying limited display case space most likely will preclude expansion into smart watches.
Apple hasn’t announced a definitive 2015 launch date yet for the Apple Watch, but that’s not stopping a small Evansville, Indiana, supplier from laying claim to fielding what it calls "the first great Apple Watch accessory." The supplier, Standzout, is using a CES exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall to demonstrate prototypes of an Apple Watch docking station it calls the Bandstand, the company said in an emailed media alert Sunday. Calling the Apple Watch "the new king of wearables," though it hasn’t yet reached the commercial market, Standzout said the Bandstand has been designed "from the ground up to make the experience of using the Apple Watch easier, more natural, and more beautiful." The Bandstand is designed to be "the nightly home" for an Apple Watch, it said. It will include integrated charging using Apple’s inductive charger, plus additional ports to allow the user to charge two other USB devices simultaneously, including an iPad, the company said. "It also features a pivoting watch platform, to adjust the angle of the watch for visibility from any angle." With the built-in charging for the Apple Watch and two additional USB devices, Standzout expects to price the Bandstand "around the $99.99 range," CEO Brandon Barnard emailed us Sunday. "We are still early in development to offer exact pricing." Availability of the Bandstand will come "within weeks of the Apple Watch release for reasons of needing to evaluate for exact fit and testing," Barnard said. Asked for his company's latest intelligence on when it thinks Apple Watch will debut, Barnard said: "We have no other information other than what is publicly available." What Apple originally touted as wireless charging technology for the Apple Watch isn't wireless at all because it uses a wire with a magnet on the end (see 1409160022). Referring in the media alert to Apple's long-term status as a CES exhibitor holdout, Standzout said: "This year's CES is jam-packed with amazing tech from hot companies around the world. You're going to be busy. But one of the year's biggest stories, the Apple Watch, isn't likely to make an appearance. "
Smart watch company Burg announced an all-stainless steel smart watch that can make and receive phone calls and texts without connecting to a smartphone. The watch comes with its own SIM card or can pair with an Android phone or with non-Android phones via Bluetooth, the company said Tuesday. It includes a Media Tek chip; voice activation; fitness apps to track steps, calories, sleep and sports schedule; GPS; Wi-Fi; an MP3/MP4 player; FM radio; voice recorder; 2 megapixel camera; contact list, calendar; calculator; alarm clock; 8 GB memory (upgradable to 16 GB with microSD) card; and a charging microSD port. The BURG 27, due in March, will debut at CES where pricing will be announced. Also at CES, the company will launch a Swarovski crystal Burg smartwatch/bracelet and a Wearables Franchise Shop, it said.