CES 2015: Versatile wearable equipment is the future trend?

On the January 5 News, when it comes to wearable equipment, more does not necessarily mean better.

At the International Consumer Electronics Fair, held this week at Las Vegas, equipment manufacturers face this dilemma when they show the world all sorts of dazzling new products.

Wearable equipment is undoubtedly one of the key technologies. According to IDC, shipments of such products are expected to reach 112 million by 2018, up 4 times times from last year's figures. The Apple Watch even boarded the cover of Vogue magazine. Smart glasses and virtual reality head-wear devices such as the past in science fiction movies can be seen in a series of equipment have been published.

How will the situation evolve? At this year's CES, manufacturers will not only have to showdown on wearable equipment, but also try to compete for leadership in the future market. The Giants of wearable areas-Samsung, LG, Motorola and Intel-are expected to make their own big moves before Apple Watches are launched. and small-scale manufacturers have chosen to work with the traditional sports, health and apparel field giants in order to obtain a place.

But manufacturers need to confront a problem beyond technology: consumers will choose to buy an almost omnipotent product. Or independent, focused on different functions of the product?

Manufacturers have chosen their own camp, but analysts still don't have a clear answer.

Apple is determined to sweep all the molecules. Apple Watches are expected to be available this spring, with full-color screens, heart rate monitoring technology, fitness and health tracking software, and a wide range of other applications, from productivity to communication tools. The price is expected to exceed 350 dollars.

Apple is not the only manufacturer to adopt this design idea. Google's Android Wear, which is used by smart watches from Samsung, LG and Motorola, is designed to be capable of multiple uses. For example, the Moto 360 smart watch can play games, featuring a James Bond-style dial that runs Evernote note writing applications, accepts voice commands, and provides guidance. Samsung's Gear S is even equipped with a cellular phone function that allows users to make direct calls.

But not everyone agrees with the idea. Many startups choose to launch devices that focus on a specific purpose. The prices of these devices are usually lower than those of omnipotent competition.

Because these devices do not need to be exhaustive, they are inexpensive and have better performance for specific tasks. These different devices are also expected to achieve interoperability, around our body to create a network. The smart built-in headset reads the user's heart rate and sends the information to the wrist strap that tracks the movement of the body. Smart T-shirts can collect sensitive information, including sweat secretion, skin temperature and hydration status. The mobile application can then process all of the above information and display it on the user's smartphone.

There are already signs that consumers are accepting some kind of wearable product. Forrester's survey of thousands of U.S. consumers last March showed that the vast majority of users were willing to wear wearable equipment on their wrists. However, demand for subdivided categories of equipment is also on the rise, such as jewellery, on-chip equipment and embedded sensors for t-shirts and shoes. In 2015, Gartner expected shipments of smart clothing to rise to 10 million from 100,000 last year, a figure equivalent to One-third of global Smart watch sales.

Even some Google executives agree with small and fine design ideas. When Google announced its glasses project in 2012, the company's idea was to build a head-and-wear computer. Now, with all kinds of equipment emerging, some executives feel that no device can do anything.

"Google glasses were supposed to be competent for a variety of tasks," Astro Teller, head of Google X Research Laboratories, who created the secret Google glasses, said Astro Troux. "However, people ultimately need a variety of products. ”

He says Google is designing another product: Smart contact lenses. The product will be produced by the pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, which embeds a small computer processor into contact lenses to read the glycemic index from a diabetic's tear.

He also pointed out that it would be foolish to try to centralize different functions and uses, especially if the product is small in size.

So far, this streamlined strategy has proved feasible. Start-ups such as Fitbit, Jawbone and Withings, and traditional watch makers such as Christie's, have succeeded in attracting consumers with their streamlined products. The smart wrist strap and fitness tracker are becoming typical representatives of wearable technology.

While some companies such as Fitbit are trying to integrate more features-such as adding displays to show time and walking steps-these products still revolve around core fitness-oriented functions, such as monitoring fitness activities and sleep. The corresponding smartphone application allows consumers to input calorie consumption and other things that the device cannot monitor.

So far, this idea is feasible. Fitbit's products occupy a 68% share of the fitness tracker market (April 2013 to March 2014). However, according to Gartner, with the explosive development of the smart watch market, especially the appearance of Apple Watches this spring, the sales momentum of the exercise wrist strap will undoubtedly slow down

Fitbit is looking for a way. Last October, the company announced the launch of a new smart watch called surge. The device is not intended to compete head-on with Apple, with neither a color screen nor a wide range of applications, and it is still built around the company's flagship fitness tracking function.

Jawbone is Fitbit's main competitor, and the former also launched UP3 last autumn. The device is a well received follow-up product for the up wrist strap and is still not equipped with a screen. However, Jawbone says the device does not require a screen to achieve its main function, the monitoring of the Nina rate.

"I might buy a smart watch, but it can't be used to track my sleep," Andrew Rosenso Andrew Rosenthal, director of health and fitness Jawbone, said at a roundtable on wearable equipment last month. "We're not going to launch smart watches, that's not our battlefield," he said. ”

There are also indications that small, fine equipment is ultimately unsuccessful, as technology giants are leading consumers to buy smart watches. Apparel giant Nike entered the wearable market earlier in 2012, launching a fitness tracker called FuelBand, a wrist strap for athletes and fitness enthusiasts with only basic functions.

But just 2 years later, the company disbanded the FuelBand hardware development team, and Nike CEO Mark Park Mark Parker confirmed the company was turning to software called nike+. Given that Nike's partnership with Apple has a long history, Apple's current CEO (Tim Tim) has been a director of Nike for nearly 10 years, so nike+ apps are expected to appear on Apple's watches.

From smart phones to smart watches

There is reason to think that wearable devices will eventually become the product of everything: the smartphone market has undergone the same transformation. The first device is a wireless phone, followed by a two-way pager. Subsequently, the product has more and more functions, replacing the fax machine, calculator, camera, GPS and so on.

Why not this time? One of the challenges is battery time.

Big-dial smart watches like Samsung Gear Live and Moto 360 have a bad endurance. Apple also said the upcoming watches could not be used without recharging for more than a day, saying users could charge at night.

With some exceptions, the Pebble smart watch lasts up to 5-7 days, and the product uses buttons instead of touch screens. Microsoft Band is a product between a fitness wrist band and a smart watch, with a color screen and heart rate monitoring function, with a maximum of 48 hours of endurance.

A single device typically has more lasting endurance, while a smart watch with too many functions consumes very quickly. Google's Teller says he thinks wearable devices will be distributed around the body to best cater to fashion needs and to stay longer.

He is not the only one who thinks so. For example, singer Will.i.am launched his own smart wrist band last October, called Puls. He also announced the launch of a series of products called i.am+. One is the smart jacket, which is able to charge the watch through the cuff.

Ultimately, analysts say, multi-purpose products will win in the short term. Laptops, desktops, printers, smart phones--they all end up with a variety of features.

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)