Get Ready for the Wearable Tech Revolution
Wednesday November 5, 2014 | Filed under:
Clearly, wearable technology is arriving. Fast. Four years ago, the U.S. wearable tech market was about $6 
million. This year, it’s expected to clock in at over $5 billion. These devices are starting to suffuse our society, from fitness bracelets to smartwatches to Google Glass. What started as a snowball is turning into an avalanche.
ASI’s recent cover story [http://bit.ly/1uqlw30] for Wearables® magazine on the wearable tech revolution examines every facet of the coming tech boom. We have articles on nanotechnology, designers who are using 3-D printers to make apparel, activity trackers that are being used in corporate wellness programs, Google Glass and other eyewear tech that can transform the workplace, and much more. Most important, our cover story looks at the big picture of wearable tech. How will this change our lives and the way we do business? And how soon will it happen?
Not to burst the bubble, but despite the rapid growth of the market, wearable tech still has some growing up to do. The products so far have been limited in scope, accessories that mostly act as companion pieces to our smartphones. Just now are we starting to see garments with full-fledged functionality: a shirt that give us a snapshot of our health, for example, or garments that feature dynamic LED displays. In the pic at top, OMSignal is a new shirt that can read your vitals and give you a complete picture of your health. The tshirtOS at bottom features LED lights embroidered into the fabric, creating a dynamic display that can be changed with a cell phone.
The hurdle is that these innovations need equal input from gadget geeks and fashion virtuosos – collaborations that are just beginning to form. (Apple hiring the CEO of Burberry last year is just one example.)
As a result, wearable technology is still in its infant state – much like the cellphone market before the iPhone refined the category in one swift blow. It’s no surprise that the Apple Watch is being looked at in the same light, with the hope that Apple can reprise its role. The results will be interesting, to say the least. One research report predicts that smartwatches will comprise 40% of wrist devices by 2016.
I think the potential for wearable technology is vast. Just look at the promotional apparel industry that we cover. Shirts are printed with a message, and that image remains. Now imagine apparel with electronic displays that can be controlled with a cellphone or tablet – and then deployed to be worn by brand ambassadors and devotees. Innovations like those are just starting, and you will see a lot more in the years to come.
The impact on our lives will be far greater. We are already attached to our computers and smartphones nearly every waking minute. Practically every key metric of our lives is kept in a digital record. But we do put our cellphones down (occasionally). And in those down times, wearables will bridge the final divide.
Connectivity will be seamless and ever-present. They will hand over the one thing that data can’t touch – our
physical bodies – and give us a completely new picture of our health and how we live our lives. Ultimately they will erase the barriers of interaction (admit it, thumbs on a cellphone screen are still clumsy) and allow us to access the resources at an instant, even by mere thought.
And I didn’t even mention the really out-there stuff. Did you know researchers are toying with temporary tattoos that can read your vocal cord movements when you think and transmit them as complete thoughts to another person? In other words, telepathy. Holy crap.
In short, there won’t ever be an “offline.” That may thrill you, or it may horrify you. Either way, I believe it will be our new reality. The items we include in our cover story [http://bit.ly/1uqlw30] may seem radical, but it’s just the beginning.
–C.J. Mittica, pictured at center, is the editor of ASI’s Wearables magazine