<div>Remeber the song about the old lady who swallowed a fly! She then swallowed a lot of other things, including a cat to catch the bird, a bird to catch the spider, and the spider to catch the fly. But no one knows why she swallowed the fly. You could draw a parallel between the nursery rhyme and the much-hyped wearables industry. The wearer controls the smartphone, the smartphone controls the smartwatch, the smartwatch controls the ring — but why the wearer wears the ring, no one is quite sure.</div><div> </div><div>What’s missing is a definitive ‘killer app’. But that’s truer of devices for mass consumers. While they figure out why they swallowed a fly, industries have already got their killer app in place — their core work. Right through 2015, practically every vertical from aviation to healthcare to travel will try out all manner of wearable devices for new and better services and efficiency through context and ‘anticipatory computing’ that throws up information right on cue.<br /> </div><div>One has tasted contextual information appearing when one needs it with Google Now. And it was only natural that Google Now should take its place in wearables. But the fledgling wearables industry got a shot in the arm when Apple showcased the Apple Watch. Suddenly, wearables as a new category received validation, a green signal. After all, if there wasn’t something in it, Apple — known for being extremely careful about the products it brings to the market — would hardly have jumped into the arena with a smartwatch. Incredibly, for a product that hasn’t yet launched, the Apple Watch, became Time magazine’s gadget of 2014. Such is the faith in the Cupertino company’s ability to kick-start a revolution.<br /> </div><div><img width="300" height="279" align="right" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=ff60a3bc-dbc0-481b-9042-389a705608a2&groupId=222861&t=1419423745342" alt="" />Back in the opposing camp is Google’s Android Wear, actually ahead of Apple by over a year with hundreds of wearables from different companies and, of course, the controversial Google Glass. Android Wear is the operating system spun off from Android, but meant for wearable devices such as the beautiful Moto 360 — the first to look like a traditional watch while putting Google Now contextual notifications on the wearer’s wrist — You’re missing your flight if you don’t rush. You should get home because there’s a package due to arrive in an hour. You absolutely must not forget to pick up flowers for your wife today. </div><div> </div><div>LG, Asus and other companies subsequently launched their own Android Wear smartwatches, while Samsung veered off on a somewhat different route, using its own Tizen software in its smartwatches.</div><div> </div><div>Among the functions that smartwatches and wrist bands have been able to do with some ease is to measure activity, heart rate and movement during sleep. So perhaps by default, the majority of wearables have been ‘wristables’, and the health and fitness sectors have been the most involved in new wearable products. But smartwatches and bands have tended to look as if they were meant only for men. That’s where the fashion industry stepped in, sensing an opportunity to correct the imbalance. This course is being spurred on by companies like Intel, whose chips will go into wearable devices. For women who want luxury tech, Intel has created an intelligent bracelet, MICA, or My Intelligent Communication Accessory, which is made of high-end materials such as gold, snakeskin, precious stones and sapphire glass. This item of connected fashion puts meeting alerts, messages, and notifications on a woman’s wrist. It will be expensive, once available, and it wouldn’t be out of place to wonder whether the additional connectivity is worth it.</div><div> </div><div>It’s the trend-setting US market that leads the interest in wearables. According to a survey by the American research firm UBS, 10 per cent of smartphone owners across four countries are most likely to buy a smartwatch in the coming year, and 17 per cent are somewhat likely to do so. UBS extrapolates that 24 million Apple Watches will sell in 2015.</div><div> </div><div>The Apple Watch may cannibalise the bevy of fitness wearables that exist today, but there are plenty more wearables coming, including smart garments that will empower people to interact with the world in ways as yet imagined. There’s healthy skepticism about wearables as they are today because their users, except for outright techies, dump them after a short period of use, often finding them just too much trouble.</div><div> </div><div>The story will be different for enterprise wearables, and industries are already exploring how to use them in day-to-day work. Healthcare is one such industry and that, along with fitness and sport, is already front and centre in this new category. Other industries like aviation, hospitality, marketing and retail are also developing apps and features to use wearables. One of the key ingredients to a successful wearable product could well involve letting go of the bond with the smartphone and focusing on innovative new uses. </div><div> </div><div>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 12-01-2015)</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.
