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Wearables Spreading from Wrists to Elsewhere, From “Me” to “We,” from Personal to Office, and Tech to BioTech
Depending on whose numbers you believe, the wearables market continue to grow. CSS Insights predicted a tripling by 2025, when it should be a $25 billion business. And based on the standing-room only crowd at our Wearable Tech Summit conference at CES 2018, the thirst for wearables knowledge remains unquenchable.
Smart clothing, smart glasses, sleep sensors, in-ear wearables, smart watches, activity monitors, augmented and virtual reality headsets, continuous glucose monitors, heart rate monitors (HRMS), drug delivery devices, hand worn terminals, wearable patches, jewelry — these are just a few of the classes of wearable devices we’re seeing come to market. Which ones do people really want to wear on their bodies? And why?
Shrinking form factors, robust cloud storage, longer battery life, more sensitive sensors, and a slew of new, more flexible component materials are affording manufacturers greater tools to be creative and experimental. Companies like Fossil are focusing efforts on creating fashion-forward smart wristwear. Companies creating medical devices, trackers, and locators are continually adding new functionality, often synthesizing the data and making prescriptive recommendations for you.
This year we’re betting wearables will enter the workplace in a big way. For one, they’ll provide safety and tracking of employees, especially mobile workers. For another, they’ll offer access to everything from buildings to data files. Google’s Project Jacquard, Samsung’s wearable strategy for the workplace, and haptic interfaces like Xenoma’s are just a few examples of new ideas coming into play.
Also, remember 2018 as the year that bio and chem met tech to create a new class for wearables. New materials were introduced, including woven circuits and organic and conductive materials. Dr. Amanda Parkes’ work in this area is worth watching.
To date, wearables have been the ultimate personal device, letting you know about your footsteps, your heart rate and more. But the beauty of the cloud-based data (and one of its potential dangers) is the ability to use AI, deep machine learning and predictive analysis to glean all sorts of information. From where a flu might start and cities that suffer the most chronic health issues to places where accidents more often occur, the aggregate of wearable data turns these devices from the world of “me” to “we.”
