We vastly prefer analyst reports that count what's already happened to those that claim to count what will exist in five years. eWeek reports that the analyst Johnan Svanberg at Berg Insight puts 2012 sales of smart glasses, wearable fitness gear, and glasses at 8.3 million units in 2012, up from 3.1 million the year before: Berg Insight predicts that wearable technology will … [Read more...]
Samsung’s mobile chief is gone
The NYTimes apparently had the story first: Keith Packingham, Samsung's chief product office for mobile, has left. It's unclear whether he quit or was fired, where he's going or how long the change had been afoot. Forbes has some good background about the guy and his tenure. Besides being in charge of Samsung's phones and tablets, Packingham was in charge of the new Galaxy … [Read more...]
New FitBit Force coming?
The Verge has pictures and details of what it says is the next wristwear from FitBit. The Fitbit Force is essentially an upgraded Flex, says the Verge, but with an altimiter (to track stairs, presumably), an added activation button and an alphanumberic display where the Flex just has a series of dots. Addition of a button means you won't have to tap the device like a maniac … [Read more...]
Eyes on the Road, Please
Nissan, the automaker, is talking about a smartwatch that it says will connect with your performance (Nissan) car and your smartphone. If the video is to be believed, they expect that the watch will do things like track your speed and your heartrate, and will send you exhortations and allow you to connect to Twitter. While, presumably, you're driving. Oh: and the thing … [Read more...]
Survey: Women don’t wear watches, own too many shoes
Comes now an upscale shopping-mall survey sponsored by the BlogHer blog network. Along with a bunch of stuff that we don't care about (professionally, that is) here, there are a couple of salient points for the Wearables crowd: More than 40 percent of women said they would wear a fitness tracker. Nearly three-quarters of women rely on their cell phones to tell time; no … [Read more...]
Gassee on the Apple iWatch
Jean-Louis Gassee was one of the grown-ups at Apple when the company nearly ran onto the shoals. Though not always right, his insights about the company, its direction, and its thought processes are usually worth reading. Just before the latest iPhone announcements, he weighed in on why an iWatch isn't as interesting a product as one might think. Writing before the event, … [Read more...]
Smart Watches Old News to Casio
The idea of wristwatch communication is at least as old as, well, Chester Gould and Dick Tracy. Apple may have taken all the air out of the market with hardly a word and without a product, but the NYTimes points out that until now it's been the more-or-less-anonymous Casio that's done most of the grunt work in connected watches. I remember a Timex Datalink watch from 20 … [Read more...]