We've been thinking a lot about the recent Canalys report about market share in the wearables business, and we've been trying to tease some actual revenue numbers based in the results they published. This is valuable because these companies are either private and don't publish revenues, or are public and don't break this market down in their financials. Canalys said that … [Read more...]
Fitbit Leads the Wearables World: Canalys
Anyone can project billions of dollars in the future, but counting actual shipping products is hard. The consulting firm Canalys reports that Fitbit shipped nearly half of all wearable bands in the world in the first quarter of 2014. Overall, Canalys reported, 2.7 million wearable bands shipped worldwide last quarter, and Fitbit's strength was despite the skin rash-related … [Read more...]
Google Exec Changes Point to Glass Productization
Some personnel changes that have just come to light among executives involved with Google Glass make it look like Google means to turn its widely heralded experiment into an actual product sooner rather than later. Adrian Wong, a lead electrical engineer on the project, has left to join visor company Oculus, his LinkedIn profile says. Wong's profile lists two projects at … [Read more...]
Components for $1500 Glass Cost $80
Teardown.com has disassembled Google Glass, identified its components, and says the pieces can be had for about $80. Google tells the Wall Street Journal that's nonsense, and even severe Glass critics (like us) would have to acknowledge that the company has a point even if the bill of materials is accurate. There's lots more to a sophisticated piece of gear like Glass than … [Read more...]
Samsung Backs Away from Android; Will Ship Android Wear Watches This Year Anyway
When you're as big and aggressive as Samsung, you can afford to place big bets on several different things (although that strategy didn't work out so well for Nokia, did it?). Yoon Han-kil, the senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy team, told Reuters that his company will ship wristwear based on the Android Wear operating system later this year -- even though … [Read more...]
Update: Want Glass? One-Day Only on April 15
Update: Google says it will sell Glass to the general U.S. public for one day and one day only on April 15. The gates open at 9am Eastern Time and they'll sell until they run out. Pricing remains insane: $1500, but at least it comes with a shade or a frame that can accommodate prescription lenses. The Verge says it's got a slide from Google indicating that for just … [Read more...]
Google Overreaches on Glass Trademark?
Zipper was once a trademark. So was aspirin. Band-Aid, Kleenex, Xerox, and Google still are, and want to be. But Google also wants to own the word Glass, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office isn't wild about the idea. Google already owns the trademark for Google Glass, the Wall Street Journal reports, but it wants exclusive use of the word "Glass," rendered in the same … [Read more...]
Oakley, Ray-Ban to Sell Google Glass-based Eyewear
Finally, there's a sign that Google really and truly wants to turn Glass into an actual business. The search giant has signed a deal with Luxottica, one of the world's biggest eyewear companies, to develop and sell Glass-based eyewear. It's possible that you've never heard of Luxottica, but you know its brands. Luxottica, an Italian company, numbers among its many luxury and … [Read more...]
Can’t Google Stick With Anything? Why To Be Wary of Android Wear
We may be approaching End Times, because this is now the second time in recent memory that we've agreed with Robert Scoble. This time, Scoble has an opinion piece on Huffington Post, questioning whether Google has the ability to stick with anything beyond its core search products. His evidence is scant -- Larry Page wasn't wearing Google Glass at TED this week, therefore … [Read more...]
Pebble CEO Talks About the Android Wear World
So let's say you're the CEO of a highly touted startup that's just clearing the runway, when Google announces that it's creating an ecosystem in your product category that you're not part of. What do you do? One thing you and your investors do is give an optimistic interview to a publication that's as high on the journalistic foodchain as you can manage. Say, Fortune … [Read more...]