Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may be facing a snag in launching its smartwatch in the birthplace of luxury watches due to a patent issue.

According to reports by Swiss broadcaster RTS and business publication Business Montres, local watch company Leonard Timepieces owns a trademark that gives it the exclusive right to use the word “Apple” and any imagery of an Apple in the watch and timepiece market.

The patent was filed in 1985 and expires on December 5, 2015. Switzerland isn’t a targeted market in the first tier of country launches, but no doubt Apple will want to launch its smartwatch there soon as it’s a high-income economy with a taste for luxury goods.

Neither Apple nor Leonard Timepieces is talking to the press about the issue. It’s unclear whether Apple will wait until the patent has lapsed, or will choose to launch the watch anyways and either move to reach a settlement with Leonard or just fight the company in court.

This isn’t the first time Apple has encountered a naming snafu when trying to launch a product. Shortly before Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007, it discovered that Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) already had rights to the name as it had used it for a line of VOIP desktop phones in the 1990s. While Cisco had the legal rights to the name Apple wanted it — badly — and used some fairly aggressive tactics to make it its own.

According to an excerpt of the book Inside Apple reprinted by the blog Cult of Mac Steve Jobs fought Cisco hard to get the rights to use the name. In the end Jobs reached a deal with Cisco’s Charles Giancarlo, an executive, which amazingly didn’t involve and monetary compensation for Cisco. Only a promise to cooperate in areas of “mutual interest”.

Giancarlo fielded a call directly from Steve Jobs. “Steve called in and said that he wanted it,” Giancarlo recalled. “He didn’t offer us anything for it. It was just like a promise he’d be our best friend. And we said, ‘No, we’re planning on using it.’ ” Shortly after that, Apple’s legal department called to say they thought Cisco had “abandoned the brand,” meaning that in Apple’s legal opinion Cisco hadn’t adequately defended its intellectual property rights by promoting the name. To Apple’s way of thinking this meant the name iPhone was available for Apple’s use. Giancarlo, who subsequently joined the prominent Silicon Valley private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, said Cisco threatened litigation before the launch. Then, the day after Apple announced its iPhone, Cisco filed suit.

The negotiation displayed some classic Steve Jobs negotiating tactics. Giancarlo said Jobs called him at home at dinnertime on Valentine’s Day, as the two sides were haggling. Jobs talked for a while, Giancarlo related. “And then he said to me, ‘Can you get email at home?’ ” Giancarlo was taken aback. This was 2007, after all, when broadband Internet was ubiquitous in homes in the US, let alone that of a Silicon Valley executive who had worked for years on advanced Internet technology. “And he’s asking me if I’m able to get email at home. You know he’s just trying to press my buttons—in the nicest possible way.” Cisco gave up the fight shortly after that. The two sides reached a vague agreement to cooperate on areas of mutual interest.

It’s not known if Apple will use the same negotiating tactics with Leonard Timepieces. It may be that Apple has a better case of the company abandoning the trademark than it did with Cisco, but this same tactic could backfire in a foreign court.

The Apple Watch goes on sale in nine countries around the world on April 24. Pricing starts at $349 and climbs to $17,000 for the luxury edition made of 18-karat gold.

The post Patent Woes May Delay Apple Watch Launch in Switzerland appeared first on VR World.

The wearables market launched to a rocky start, but IDC sees nothing but growth over the next few years.

According to a recent report by IDC, a combination of new vendors, new devices, and greater awareness among potential consumers will lead to year-over-year growth that leads to 126 million of the devices shipped by 2019. IDC forecasts that the wearables market will see 45.7 million unit shipments in 2015, up from the 133.4% from the 19.6 million units shipped in 2014. Until 2019, IDC believes that every year the market will have a year-over-year growth rate of 45%.

“Smart wearables are about to take a major step forward with the launch of the Apple Watch this year,” said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Wearables team. “The Apple Watch raises the profile of wearables in general and there are many vendors and devices that are eager to share the spotlight. Basic wearables, meanwhile, will not disappear. In fact, we anticipate continued growth here as many segments of the market seek out simple, single-use wearable devices.”

What’s causing the growth?

The obvious reason why the market is poised for growth is the 900-pound gorilla known as the Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch. When the Apple Watch launches many competing vendors will no doubt use its launch and first year on the market as a case study to adjust their own strategies accordingly.

There’s also the issue of the overall quality of the wearable market. When wearables first entered the mainstream public consciousness they were heavily fitness oriented. This appealed to a niche market, but to the not-so fitness inclined they were a questionable investment. Then the first smartwatch, Samsung’s (KRX: 005930) Galaxy Gear, came on the market to a chilly reception and ultimately had a sky-high return rate.

In a contrast, a maturing market shows that there’s nothing but demand for wearables. This is because the overall quality of device has improved, and consumers have taken note and responded positively. IDC’s numbers are realistic and definitely attainable if vendors keep building quality devices.

The post IDC: The Wearables Market is Expanding appeared first on VR World.

After a rocky start, the wearable market is finally hitting its stride. The 900-pound gorilla of the Apple Watch is set to launch next month, and the incredible success of the Pebble Time’s crowdsourcing campaign proves there is a demand for wearables.

But what happened between the initial launch of the wearable form factor and today? App stores have matured. Initially the bulk of the apps on the app stores for many wearables were limited to basic sports and health functionalities. This may have appealed to a small, loyal market but the mainstream consumer wants something more. The powers that be have listened, and app stores expanded.

With the broadening of app stores, wearables suddenly came a hot commodity and the market took off.

“Wearable devices have exploded into the consumer consciousness in the last two years and, when use cases become established, they will be the ‘next big thing’ in consumer electronics,” Juniper Research noted in a recent white paper. “Exactly what that ‘thing’ is varies considerably depending on the market segment and purpose of the devices.”

Gartner Research is equally as bullish, predicting that the market will grow to 26 million units in 2016. This is up from a mere 100,000 in 2014.

Considering the chart below from Business Intelligence, there’s a direct correlation between correlation between the strength of the app store and the demand for the specific wearable.

The Pebble’s app store leads the way with approximately 1000 apps. Contrast that to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, with a paltry 70 apps, and its easy to see the connection.

The next generation of wearables will likely have an even stronger emphasis on apps, as when the market gets more mature it’s bound to get more competitive. Consumers will want their wearables to become more and more independent from their smartphones, and app designers will have to take note and build apps accordingly.

Vendors that fail to nurture the development of robust app stores will be faced with their devices failing to gain altitude. Consumers will simply not be interested in them and will instead pick up something with more app offerings.

The post Want a Successful Wearable? Build It A Solid App Store appeared first on VR World.

The launch of Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch, scheduled in approximately a month, will be a pivotal moment for the company. The Apple Watch will be an entirely new product line for Apple, the first for the notoriously cautious and conservative (when compared with its competition) company since the passing of Steve Jobs in April 2011.

Compared to the competition Apple is late to the game in the smartwatch field. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Samsung’s (KRX:005930) first smartwatch was launched nearly a year and a half ahead of the Apple Watch. Apple has had plenty of opportunity to learn from its failures, and also the success of the Pebble Smartwatch and demand for the Pebble Time.

There will be two factors that drive consumers to buy the Apple Watch: pure aesthetics, and its practicality to enhance productivity.

The Apple Watch comes in a huge variety of flavors and styles, with customizable faces.

There will be a large subset of consumers that buy the smartwatch simply because of its aesthetic. Apple is considered to be a fashionable brand, and there are many consumers who will simply line up to purchase it because of the brand and style. This holds particularly true in China, as demand for Apple’s iPhone 6 was record breaking leading to an underground economy of re-sales from Hong Kong (where it launched well it advance).

But many consumers will be unconvinced that the Apple Watch is a worthwhile purchase unless the device’s App store can prove to be viable, and full of useful, sustainable apps. Consumers that purchase the Apple Watch based on the strength of the app library will make up a larger subset of consumers that purchase the device beyond the initial hype phase.

Apple has already shown off a compelling library of apps at the device’s launch event in early March. At launch there will be apps that let the watch double as a boarding pass, a hotel room key, and even an Uber-hailing device. This is a good start, as when the iPhone launched in 2007 users had to wait months for the corresponding app store to launch.

Given the limitations of the Apple Watch, the majority of the apps that launch on the platform will simply be extensions of existing iPhone apps. For now that’s acceptable, as the Apple Watch is essentially tethered to the iPhone but as the platform matures developers will figure out use cases that are less dependent on the iPhone.

Success is already written, just add the apps

Many naysayers have pointed to Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Glass as reason that the wearable market as a whole is doomed. But, pardon the pun, this is comparing apples to oranges.

Google’s Glass was cursed from the get-go because of privacy concerns and the lack of practicality. At the end of the day, the Apple Watch is still a watch — a tried and true product line. It will still sell partially because of that alone. In contrast, Google’s Glass was something nobody could figure out how to practically use: the idea of strapping a computer to your face didn’t resonate with many.

The Apple Watch just needs a sustainable and in-depth app store. This alone will ensure that different waves of consumers buy the device, guaranteeing its success, not just those looking for a fashionable wrist piece.

The post The Strength of the Apple Watch App Store Will Determine Its Success appeared first on VR World.

Samsung (KRX: 005930) is in a tough position in the smartwatch market. The company has released more devices than any other major player — a total of six — but not all of them have been a stunning success. In fact, it’s first venture into the field, the Galaxy Gear, had a stunningly high return rate of 30%.

But there have been some successes in the field. The Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches had a much better reception than the initial Galaxy Gear. But this year with the launch of the Galaxy 6 and Galaxy 6 edge, there was no companion smartwatch.

Why? Because Samsung says it needs to take a pause from the market.

“We’ve been introducing more devices than anybody else,” Samsung Mobile Marketing Executive Vice President Young-hee Lee said to the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “It’s time for us to pause. We want a more perfect product.”

The smartwatch market is about to become a lot more competitive. As VR World discussed earlier there is still a demand for smart watches. The success of the crowdfunding campaign for the Pebble Time is proof of this. Samsung is wise to decide to step back from the market  and reassess its strategies. There will be a lot to learn from the Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch, as well as the upcoming release of the Pebble Time.

Samsung’s first product, the Galaxy Gear, felt rushed. It was buggy and was light on functionality. It will be interesting to see what lessons Samsung can learn during its pause.

The post Samsung’s Smartwatch Strategy: ‘Pause’ appeared first on VR World.

$1 million in less than an hour.

Then $8.7 million in 24 hours.

That’s how fast Pebble Tech was able to crowdfund the money for its Pebble Time smartwatch, blowing past expectations and setting records. The company set a funding goal of $500,000, which thanks to the support of many enthusiastic crowd funders, it had no problem meeting.

But for every Pebble Time and Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch there are also devices that don’t capture the imagination of the masses. Think of the Samsung (KRX: 005930) Galaxy Gear, the first wearable to the market. Despite the promise and potential of the device, it also had a staggering 30% return rate. Effectively it was dead on arrival. There are plenty of devices out there like Samsung’s Galaxy Gear that failed to capture the attention of consumers.

But this doesn’t mean that the market itself should be written off in its entirety. In many ways Pebble is proving that you can correct a wrong of previous devices to make a right. Demand will be there as long as you can prove to the market that lessons have been learned from previous market failures.

There’s plenty of potential in wearables, however the market right now is cautious. Investment is on the sidelines, and key players are waiting for the right time to invest.

As VR World has reported earlier, players in the ecosystem are waiting for Apple to test the waters before deciding to commit.

“Without Apple’s involvement, manufacturers would think twice about investing heavily in an unproven product category,”  Jeremy Huang and Jessica Hsu, senior analysts at the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), a research house affiliated with the Taiwanese government, said to VR World in an earlier piece.

Even though Pebble Tech has had this level of success in its crowdfunding campaign, Apple is still the trendsetter. Pebble has shown that there is demand for wearables, but ultimately Apple is the trendsetter. Conveniently for Pebble, the Apple Watch is due out this month whereas the Pebble Time will be out in May. That will give Pebble plenty of time to do last minute corrections if need be.

The post Pebble Time Proves a Demand for Wearables appeared first on VR World.

Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) smartwatch isn’t expected out until later this spring, but it has already picked up a prestigious design award from the Germany-based iF International Forum Design group.

The Apple Watch received the group’s gold award, with the jury calling it “an icon”. The smartwatch field is becoming increasingly crowded — with a healthy showing of devices at this week’s Mobile World Congress in addition to the Pebble Time on Kickstarter — and this award is just another way Apple’s watch stands out against the competition.

“The idea of combining classic materials such as leather and metal with state-of-the-art technology to create a very individual fashion accessory has resulted in a delightful product offering a holistic user experience. The Apple Watch scores highly for each design detail and is an altogether extraordinary piece of design. For us, it is already an icon,” the group said in a press release.

The awards jury from the iF group judges entrants includes workmanship, choice of materials, environmental friendliness, design quality, safety, brand value, ergonomics, workmanship, degree of innovation and functionality.

The Apple Watch comes in a huge variety of flavors and styles, with customizable faces.

Apple is no stranger to winning awards from the iF group. Its iPhone 6, iPad Air and iMac are amongst some of the high-profile wins.

The entry Apple Watch is expected to cost $349.99. The luxury version of the watch — which will be encased in 18-carat gold — is expected to cost a whopping $5,000. Will this design award translate to sales for Apple when their Apple Watch launches?

More details on the Apple Watch are expected during an Apple event on March 9, 2015.

The post Yet-To-Be Released Apple Watch Wins Design Award appeared first on VR World.

People visiting Barcelona this month for the Mobile World Congress 2015 will be greeted by Huawei’s (SHE: 002502) new smart watch, which introduces a mix of old and new in a very good way.

The new wearable was simply introduced as the “Huawei Watch”. The basic overall design of the watch exude a classic look and finish, something that we are accustomed to with old-century type watches. The screens are even glazed in sapphire crystal, as well as being encased in stainless steel, which clearly introduces it as more than just another wearable. What’s obviously different though is that this is a smart watch, and has all the nifty perks modern wearables have today. It has a 1.2 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. The screen itself shows off its bright and crisp 1.4-inch 400×400 AMOLED display.

Like with many other wearables, it will feature various kinds of sensors and monitors, including a barometer, a heart rate monitor, and a standard accelerometer/gyroscope. It will also use the Android Wear OS.

As the advertisement states “classic design and impeccable craftsmanship” meshed with “state-of-the-art wearable technology”. So far, at least according to the demo announcement, the “Huawei Watch” does not disappoint. The old, stylistic look certainly warrants it the premium treatment, as quaint as it may seem to be. Performance-wise, it should be able to handle the Android Wear OS, though we may have to see the actual commercial version to firmly assess this.

Ad placements at the Barcelona Airport have been welcoming arriving guests with a discreet announcement for its “Huawei Watch”, even since before Huawei’s official announcement of the new product a few days ago. The billboards, which has the slogan “Timeless design. Smart within.” written on it, are basically teasers that introduced one of its three possible color versions: silver, gold, and black.

No prices announced yet, but Huawei announced that it will be available very soon.

The post Huawei Teases New Yet To Be Released Wearable appeared first on VR World.

Smartphone commoditization has hit Taiwan’s HTC (TPE: 2498) hard. The top handset maker by volume in the US in 2011, HTC cratered over the next two years, posting its first annual loss in 2013 as Samsung (KRX: 005930) and low-cost Chinese brands chipped away at its market share. By 2014, HTC was no longer one of the top ten handset brands by shipments and held a pithy 1.5% share of the global market.

Analysts warned of HTC’s impending demise and suggested a buyout to increase its competitiveness. Going private would allow HTC to pursue strategies without an immediate payoff, but which would bear fruit in the long run, such as a push into lower-end handsets, they said.

HTC rejected the idea of a buyout. But it has cut costs, introduced cheaper handsets and is expanding into new product categories.

Following these moves, the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company has returned to profitability for three consecutive quarters. Its fourth-quarter profit rose 49% to $14.8 million over a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations of $10.4 million. Revenue increased 12% to $1.5 billion from $1.35 billion a year earlier. In the final three months of last year, HTC also posted its first quarterly sales growth since 2011.

HTC is forecasting an annual revenue increase of 30% this year.

Reading between the numbers

Aggressive cost cutting has driven HTC’s improved performance, industry experts say. A key part of that strategy has been outsourcing production of its non high-end handsets. In May 2014, chief financial officer Chang Chialin confirmed that contract manufacturers were making some HTC smartphones. He said the company’s outsourcing volume was below 50% of total shipments, but declined to specify the actual figure.

Compal Electronics (TPE: 2324) is handling a large portion of HTC’s orders. In 2014, the Taiwanese OEM made 2 million smartphones for HTC and may ship as many as 6 million this year, says Arthur Liao, a downstream analyst at Fubon Securities in Taipei. Compal also makes handsets for many other leading vendors including Sony (TYO: 6758) and makes Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Surface tablet.

“Outsourcing has improved the cost structure of HTC’s mid and low-end devices,” CK Lu, a principal research analyst at Gartner in Taipei, told VR World in an interview. “It’s an important part of their strategy to boost profitability.”

But there are limits to the benefits of outsourcing for HTC, because it still produces its premium smartphones in-house. Those high-margin devices are the company’s bread and butter, not lower-end handsets.

At the same time, HTC’s financials may be shakier than they appear. The New Taiwan dollar’s fall against the greenback was an important contributor to recent profitability, says Jeff Pu, an analyst at Yuanta Securities in Taipei.   “HTC was lucky that the NTD depreciated sharply,” he says. “Otherwise, they might have posted a loss in the fourth quarter.”

New product lines

As HTC tries to gain ground against its competitors, it is rapidly rolling out new product categories: tablet computers, action cameras, wearable devices, even a virtual-reality headset. The purpose of that diversification is to provide new sources of revenue and position the handset maker as a stronger consumer brand, analysts say.

“You can’t grow producing smartphones alone,” says Lu of Gartner. “The market is too saturated. HTC is the only major vendor without something else.”

Tablet computers are an odd place for HTC to start. Not only are the devices plummeting in popularity among consumers, but HTC’s previous foray into the tablet market in 2011-2012 was a flop. Its overpriced Flyer and Jetstream tablets each lasted less than a year.

Yet HTC is the producer of the new Nexus 9 tablet, which was released in October 2014. Reviewers have compared the device unfavorably to the iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, criticizing the Nexus 9’s poor battery performance, screen resolution and camera. Sales peaked for the Nexus 9 “in the first few days,” says Pu of Yuanta Securities, adding: “It’s going to be a disappointment.”

The “Re” waterproof action camera shows better potential. Also unveiled in October, the tube-shaped device features a 16-megapixel sensor, a wide-angle lens and HD video recording capability. Since the device connects to smartphones wirelessly, it will be able to live stream directly to YouTube under a planned partnership.

The Re camera is selling well, HTC says. In December, it forecast sales of 20,000 units of the device by the end of 2014, with strong momentum carrying into 2015. Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia, said at a product launch in February that the Re camera was performing well enough to boost the company’s overall first-quarter revenue.

HTC is competing with GoPro (NASDAQ: GOPRO) and Sony in the nascent action camera sector. Sander Research forecasts that market will grow 16% annually through 2018.

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC is taking its new product categories a step further with the launch of the Grip fitness band and Vive virtual-reality headset.

Grip is HTC’s first wearable device. The GPS-enabled fitness band was co-developed with the American sportswear company Under Armour, which supplies wearables to the US military. HTC is positioning the device as a fitness wearable rather than a smartwatch, but it does have email, message and phone functions. Grip is also compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

The Vive virtual-reality headset, which uses technology from the US game developer Valve, is the more intriguing of HTC’s two new gadgets. Vive provides a panoramic high-definition view and tracks body and head movements as the user walks. HTC says Vive’s mobility distinguishes it from Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s cardboard virtual-reality goggles, which users engage from the confines of a chair.

But unlike the Samsung or Google devices, HTC’s virtual-reality headset works only with PCs and consoles. HTC says it plans to make Vive compatible with mobile devices in the future.

A developer version of Vive will hit the market in spring and the device will be launched for consumers during this year’s holiday season.

The post HTC Looks Beyond Smartphones at MWC 2015 appeared first on VR World.

Smartwatch maker Pebble has set a new crowdfunding record, raising at least $1 million in the first 49 minutes of launching its latest Pebble Time. Kickstarter originally cited 34 minutes, but this has since been corrected.

Pebble Time actually reached its funding goal of $500,000 in 17 minutes, and has, so far, raised $6.8 million in less than a day of launch. To compare, the first Pebble smartwatch reached $1 million in 27 hours. Even the Veronica Mars film, considered to be a fan favorite, took at least 4 hours to raise a million.

Update: As of 10:00 PM National Standard Time (Taiwan), or about 24 hours after the Pebble Time project launched on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding campaign has raised $8.7 million in pledges from at least 40,000 backers. That’s about $362,500 per hour or $6,041 per minute on average.

Focus on the Timeline

The new device builds upon the success of the original Pebble smartwatch, adding in a few key features aimed at improving the user experience. In particular, Pebble Time brings a new focus into the timeline. “You already plan your day around time, so it makes sense for your Pebble to be organized around the same principle,” the team says. So the watch’s operating system now lays out notifications according to chronology, rather than separated in distinct apps.

The buttons now take on a “past, present and future” functionality. The center button brings you the current time (and any current notifications). The upper button lets you review previous notifications. The bottom button lets you scroll through upcoming events.

Pebble Time retains the use of e-paper, enabling the watch to have a 7-day battery life. The new device features a color display, however. It is also 20% thinner than its predecessor. And within this thinner package is a microphone, which lets users dictate responses to text messages and emails and save voice notes.

Backers can pre-order Pebble time for $159 through the completed Early Bird promo, and currently goes for $179 apiece. The company also has other options for bundles of two, three, five, 10 and 30 watches (the latter for “distributors”).

Why crowdfund?

Pebble is not exactly cash-strapped, having received $25.7 million in three rounds from investors that include CRV, ACE & Company, Tim Draper, Draper & Associates, Paul Buchheit, Mark Friedgan and Y Combinator. Pebble Technology says it is going back to its roots, “where it all started,” in launching the new product on Kickstarter. “The Kickstarter community and our early adopters believed in us before anyone else even knew we existed. You blew us away with your support and kicked off a worldwide movement!”

The underlying reasons may be deeper than this, however. It does make business sense. For one, Kickstarter has been Pebble’s most successful sales channel so far, apart from sales on its own website. The first Pebble crowdfunding campaign raised $10.26 million from almost 69,000 backers.

Secondly, pre-selling on Kickstarter means better margins for Pebble Tech. Kickstarter only gets 5% of proceeds. Payment processor Stripe gets 5%, too. This means only a 10% margin from this retail channel. Selling goods on brick-and-mortar retail channels would mean a margin of 35 to 50%, which will severely dilute Pebble’s profitability.

Meanwhile, selling on established e-commerce services like Amazon might result in reasonable margins, but it means Pebble will have no control over when it receives the money. Kickstarter lets backers pay up-front, which means more working capital for any startup, compared with having to source funds elsewhere and then marketing goods once it is already produced.

A crowdfunding bubble?

Still, 30,000 backers are not such a big market, especially considering that many of these are early adopters — people willing to pay just for the privilege of being considered on the bleeding edge. The more mainstream consumers are likely to buy products either at established retail outlets (tactile experience in buying watches, is after all, powerful), or through e-commerce giants like Amazon.

If anything, launching on Kickstarter enables the company to position itself as an underdog — especially compared with technology giants like Apple and Samsung, and it is probably hoped that doing so will endear the company to technology users hoping to see an indie effort succeed amid such competition.

For now, Pebble will have to enjoy the advantage of being able to get the funds with the exchange of a promise to build the product and ship months afterward. It’s a good way of raising capital, without necessarily being bogged down by the common investor concerns on equity and control.

The post Pebble Time Crowdfunds $1M in 49 Minutes, $6.8M in a Day appeared first on VR World.

Developers of wearable technology have been gaining inroads into consumer end-markets, with the likes of virtual reality glasses, smart watches, fitness bands and other such devices becoming increasingly available and affordable. While the likes of the upcoming Microsoft HoloLens and AppleWatch bode well for consumer-facing products, the bigger potential is for platform and hardware makers that stand to gain from the boom in this space, just like how Qualcomm experienced a renaissance with the rise of ARM-based computing in mobile devices. One such startup that will stand to gain with the rise of wearable computing is Tel Aviv-based LifeBEAM, which designs and builds wearable instruments for measuring human performance.

Aerospace tech made accessible

LifeBEAM’s main products are hats and helmets with built-in heart rate and performance trackers. The novelty is with the fact that the technology behind these devices originated from the aerospace industry, in particular fighter pilot helmets. The startup is actually founded by former Israeli air force pilots who aimed to incorporate military technology into consumer products. Trackers embedded on these headgear help reduce the discomfort and weight associated with cyclists’ and runners’ having to wear chest straps for electro-cardiogram needs.

The startup launched its first product through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in 2013, and marginally exceeded its goal by 29%. The company also provides its bio-sensing technologies to other brands and partners. In November, it was announced that Samsung has picked LifeBEAM’s technology as one of the sensors that will power its Simband, which is the Korean company’s reference design for upcoming health-tracking wearables.

Finding the right form factors

For LifeBEAM, it’s a big deal to find the right form factors to build its technology into. “Our challenge is to keep finding ways to integrate our bio sensing technology into real products that users want,” says Omri Yoffe, LifeBEAM founder, in an interview with VR World. “This keeps us at the front line as a company who understands both the barriers and opportunities in these different wearable form factors and possible products and content to be created out of them.”

According to Yoffe, there are certain industries that more easily warm to wearable technologies, although it may not be fair to identify any single industry that is dominant. For the  company, leading consumer brands are a good place to start when looking for trends in this industry. “The emerging wave of wearable technologies popular in the last year or so apply to consumer lifestyle, safety and security, enterprises, health and such industries,” he says. “There are different barriers to entry and key factors, such as policy, privacy and pricing, at play.”

Finding the right applications

Yoffe says there will always be early adopters and that “the most natural place to start with should be the leading consumer brands that will look for feasible ways of implementing wearable technology into their current and future products and services.” He adds that “the goal is to provide more value to the users and consumers.”

According to Yoffe, health and fitness remain to be at the forefront of wearables, because of the relevance of bio- and motion-sensing technologies to this industry. “Looking at 2014 and seeing the main trends for 2015, there is no doubt that the well-being and fitness markets are currently pioneering vehicles for wearable technology adoption, because these provide the target users a real and valuable way to track their personal wellness and well-being.” he says. “This is done in a relatively seamless and convenient, but still fashionable way,” he adds.

A focus on user experience

There are still challenges, however. For LifeBEAM, these include optimizing devices for the component sizes, connectivity, convenience and wearability. “Smart textile production also involves questions about washability and pricing,” Yoffe says, adding that even power consumption and the “lack of new disruptive and mature charging technologies” can also be an issue that builders of wearable tech need to address.

But going beyond devices and sensors, the wearable technology needs to take into account user experience. “We need ways to provide users a simplified, unified and insightful feedback mechanism, without the need for extra effort in terms of both wearing a designated wearable form factor (such as wrist bands) and the need to drill down into lots of saturated data and statistics.”

Beyond glasses and watches

The future is not necessarily about watches and glasses. Yoffe says that segmentation borders between two major groups. First is wearable and sensing tech embedded into clothing and apparel. “Wearable sensing solutions are invisibly implemented into all sorts of wearable gear apparel, with focus on low power consumption and wireless connectivity to a display-enabled device and/or the cloud.”

The second group involves purpose-built devices. “These are consumer electronics — watches, earbuds, phones and maybe a bit of smart glasses — participating as the user’s data aggregation, display and communication ‘hub’ to be able to simplify data collection and pitch the data to the user in real time.”

At this point, the job of companies that produce wearable tech is to make this technology more accessible to the end user — in essence making it invisible so it becomes more easily integrated into our lives, Yoffe says. “We need more focus on the UX and the ability to provide the end user an insightful, meaningful, simplified and unified feedback about his daily activity and personal well-being, and less focus on the raw bio-sensing parameters the and other more techy parts.”

The post LifeBEAM: User Experience Should be Focus of Wearable Tech appeared first on VR World.