Advertise with fastmoving.co.za
 
 

Wearable tech is coming on strong
Wearable tech is coming on strong

Wearable tech is coming on strong

FMCG SUPPLIER NEWS

BusinessTech.co.za - May 30th, 09:42

Wearable computing is emerging as the type of significant technology shift that will drive innovation in the way personal computing did in the 1980s or mobile computing and tablets are doing currently, said Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker at the All Things D conference on Wednesday. 

While technology cycles generally last 10 years, she said wearables were coming on stronger and faster than is typical. The change is noteworthy because major technology cycles often support tenfold growth in users and devices, she said in her annual report on the state of the Internet.

Many of the 150 times or so per day that users interact with their phones – to look for messages, make calls, check the time, and the like – could be hands-free with wearable technology, she said.

“Some people laugh at wearables…” read one slide featuring an image from the TV show “Saturday Night Live” that mocked Google glass, a wearable technology. As the audience chuckled, she brought up the next slide, reading “Some people laughed at PC & Internet.” The slide showed a 1999 Barron’s cover trumpeting the headline “Amazon.Bomb.”

Later in the morning, Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo picked up the theme, telling conference goers that it was clear wearable technology would play a large role in the future, even if what is perhaps the most-discussed example– Google glass– doesn’t emerge as the first mainstream hit.

Speaking last night at the conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook stopped short of clarifying if Apple was working on wearable products amid speculation that it is developing a smart watch, saying only that wearable computers had to be compelling.

He added that Google’s Glass is likely to have only limited appeal.

Meeker also reviewed themes she has highlighted in the past, including the remarkable growth of mobile technology and the Chinese economy, and the ceding of power from traditional personal computing companies to phone and tablet makers. 

Read more about: | apple | personal technology

Related News

Samsung surges to new profit high
25/10/2013 - 09:51
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s quarterly operating profit surged 26 percent to a new record, matching estimates and powered by a strong recovery in its memory chip business as smartphone sales growth eases sharply.

HTC CEO wants to claw back smartphone market share
23/10/2013 - 10:30
HTC Corp’s chief executive has handed some duties to the company’s chairwoman as the smartphone maker struggles to claw back market share from Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the Financial Times reported.

Samsung offers to end patent disputes
18/10/2013 - 08:53
Samsung Electronics has offered to stop taking rivals such as Apple to court in Europe over patent disputes in order to end an antitrust investigation, European Union regulators said on Thursday.

Apple unseats Coca-Cola as 'best brand'
07/10/2013 - 11:03
Paris - Coca-Cola has lost its crown as the world's best brand, a closely watched survey said last month, unseated by the iconic iPhone and iPad maker Apple.

Who holds the keys to BlackBerry’s future?
15/08/2013 - 09:13
BlackBerry Ltd is expected to draw preliminary interest from technology companies, buyout firms and Canadian pension funds, but its fate may ultimately rest in the hands of its largest shareholder, Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.