<div>I was thinking back to a time long ago when my dad gave me an enormous purple “GoGo watch” and I wore it to school thinking I’d get much admiration and envious attention. Instead everyone, aghast at the size, just gaped at it and kept asking: What IS that? It looked like a pet nuclear reactor really, so eventually I gave it up.<br /> </div><div>And now, watches the same size as my GoGo are back. Just when cellphones all but made the watch obsolete, except for those people who have a fetish for pretty watches or wear them like a piece of jewellery, we hear that there’s about to be a smartphone battle. What’s changed is that now watches and mobiles can talk to each other, giving us the smartwatch. Actually we’ve had the smartwatch for a while, but everything has to be just right before it can even think of going mainstream. Response to smartwatch Pebble, which has made it to buyers delayed and with many glitches, a crowdfunded project on Kickstarter, seemed to indicate the existence of a segment that was keenly interested in such a device. So did Sony’s smartwatch and various fitness-oriented watches such as the one from Nike. Unlike the watches of old, today’s smartwatch is essentially a slave to the mobile phone, bringing any quick-glance data to your wrist, where you can see who’s calling, read a message, check your mail, or read a news ticker. Borrowing from the phone’s capabilities and apps, you can control music and more, as the gadget develops. I suppose you’ll be able to voice input to it since typing out anything on a small watch screen is going to be a nuisance that rivals typing on cellphone screens.<br /> </div><div>After the initial few smartwatches, no one’s seen actual evidence of the bitter smartphone rivals making them, but Samsung says it’s been working on one since forever because it’s like that only. I just hope it isn’t made of Samsung’s favourite material. Or here’s an idea: maybe Samsung can make a wrist band that’s a flexible screen.<br /> </div><div>Of course, Samsung is said to be interested in a smartwatch because Apple is rumoured to be making one. Apple won’t say, but that doesn’t stop the “iWatch” from having fans already eagerly holding their wrists out for the new Apple thing they can’t do without. They want the smartwatch to do practically everything the iPhone and iPod do but on a smaller scale so they can have wrist-access to their favourite activities. Apple already has the Nano wrist band but Apple fans want more. It’s obvious that an iWatch would be another way to cement the tie-in that iPhone users have with Apple’s ecosystem, but there are still those who feel that an iWatch is unlikely and wouldn’t be worth Apple’s while, especially as it would be a low margin product — an accessory in every sense.<br /> </div><div>And there’s also the thinking that since smartphone growth is beginning to slow, it’s smartwatches that will open up new opportunities, re-whelming those who have been underwhelmed with both Apples’ and Samsung’s flagship phones for not being revolutionary. Besides, companies need to get into wearable tech as early as they can. That’s why the lot, including Google (which also has exciting plans with its Google Glass) are scrambling for a piece of your wrist and a share of a market estimated to be worth $60 billion this year itself. LG is also said to be making a smartwatch.<br /> <br />No details on any of these are available, however.<br /> </div><div>Among us will surely be those who believe we hardly need to complicate our lives further with smartwatches, which, together with smartphones that already take up a significant portion of our time, will only bind us into a technology for technology’s sake system. That’s besides making us all look like a bunch of humanoids with our eyes flitting from cellphone to watch and our conversations split between watch-Sri and phone-Siri. Imagine all the beeps and alerts enveloping us and demanding we do something. Would you get a smartwatch? Speaking for myself, I haven’t recovered from the GoGo watch. <br /><br />mala(at)pobox(dot)com<br />Twitter: (at)malabhargava<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 20-05-2013)</span></div>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
