This Week in Wearables: New Innovations and Products are Coming to the Market
Startups Making A Name For Themselves In The $1 Billion Wearables Market
via Forbes, by Unity Stoakes
Wearables startups are revolutionizing healthcare, not just fitness. By the end of 2015, investors are expected to commit more than $1 billion to wearable technology startup companies, according to a recent market research report. By the end of 2016, the entire wearable technology market will gross almost $2 billion in revenues. Some companies, like FitBit and Jawbone, are focusing on wearable health and fitness gadgets as their bread and butter products. Other legacy tech companies like Apple AAPL -2.73%,Google GOOGL -5.10% and Intel INTC +1.05% are making bold plays in healthcare, shaping the market with their considerable influence.
Wearables market failing to connect with women
via BenefitsPro, by Jack Craver
All of the hype over health-oriented wearables comes despite the devices’ failure to succeed with a key demographic: women. For instance, Fitbit, the wearable company that was valued at $4.1 billion after going public in June, is getting 70 percent of its profits from men. A study by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness sought to discover why women, who are by no means less health conscious than men, were less interested in wearable wellness devices. A survey of women between the ages of 25 and 34, the key demographic for the future of wearables, suggested some answers.
Skype Hits Android Wear Smartwatches
via PC Mag, by Stephanie Mlot
Skyping on the go just got a lot easier for Android Wear users. This week’s launch of Skype 6.4 for Android brings new ways to manage conversations on the Moto 360, Huawei Watch, LG Watch Urbane, and Asus ZenWatch. Indulge your spy fantasies by composing, reading, and responding to messages directly from your wrist. When you’re in a hurry—rushing to the roof of a speeding train to battle the bad guy—just select from a set of pre-written responses, or draw on the watchface and respond with an emoji.
Where Would The Wearables Market Be Without Smartphones?
via Huffington Post, by Julie Ask
Few consumers categories have seen the explosive adoption that wearables have, especially fitness wearables.The category has gone from zero to tens of millions in sales in less than five years. Without smartphones, however, the wearables market is likely nothing more than a fad for devoted athletes and passionate (or overzealous) weekend warriors. Smartphones have fueled growth in two core ways.
Fossil Q smartwatches teased with new pics and holiday season release date
via Wearables, by Sophie Charara
We’ve known about Fossil’s plans to get into wearables for a while now but now we have a name, fresh pics and more details. Fossil Q is the name of the line of wearable tech accessories created by the fashion brand in collaboration with Intel and Google. According to this latest teaser, the two smartwatches, one Android Wear, one without a digital display, and a smart bracelet are ‘coming soon’.
Sports Tech Startup Halo Wearables Set To Release Non-Invasive Hydration Monitor
via Sport Techie, by Claire Wang
Halo Wearables, a Michigan-based sports technology startup, will launch the first non-invasive hydration monitoring wearable in early 2016, tailored specifically for elite athletes. Co-founder Trevor Calero spoke to us in a phone interview about the backstory of Halo Wearables. “Two of our engineers studied non-invasive blood analysis and discovered that even a few percentage drop in hydration will negatively impact physical performance. With those findings, we reached out to sports teams to gauge their interest in the technology and received an outpouring of support, and that started the development of Halo Wearables.”