1. Wearable Technology – The Basics
Wearable Tech Group September Workshop
September 10, 2013
Ahmed Bouzid – Co-Founder & CEO, XOWi, Inc.
Weiye Ma – Co-Founder &CTO, XOWi, Inc.
2. Wearable Technology?
What’s the fuss all about?
Isn’t everything that we wear already some sort of technology?
A manufactured tool that solves a problem?
Clothing
Glasses
Hearing aids
Watches
Cell Phones: Worn on belt
3. The Wearables in Our Lives
Clothing
To: keep us warm
To protect us from injury (shoes)
Protect us from disease (gloves)
Aesthetics - makes us look good
Meaning: rings, expensive clothes
Glasses
A bit more technologically sophisticated
Improves our vision
Protects against sun glare
Hearing aids
Improves our hearing
The cell phone
Worn on belt
Watches
Tells time: Pocket watch, Wrist watch
Digital watch: Time, timers, stop watches
4. Form & Function
Wearables =
Aesthetics + Pragmatics
It needs to look good as well as do its job
Balance changes from one wearable to
another
Digital watches: Function more important than
form
Sun glasses: Looking good is crucial
5. Why a Wearable?
Don’t have to look for it: you forget it’s
there until you need it
You don’t have to put it away: when you are
done with it, you just go on (unlike a
smartphone – you have to put it back where
it was)
Can’t lose it (vs. smartphone device) – it’s
attached to your body
It’s the cool thing (until it becomes
mainstream)
6. The New Wearables
Wearable is an electronic device that extends the functionality
of your smartphone
Smart Watches: Sony, Pebble, Samsung, etc.
Wrist Bands - UP
Google Glass
Bluetooth ear phones
Some new ones
Embrace+ Bracelet
Kapture audio recorder
Memoto camera
XOWI Voice Companion
7. The New Possibilities
Ever shrinking devices
Large mainframes/minis/desktops/laptops/tablets/smartphone/wearables
Size growing smaller -> opens new use possibilities
Forms rarely fully replace one another other
Overlaps: tablet and laptop / smartphone and tablet / smartphone and wearables
Each device has its strengths:
Tablet vs. Laptop
Smartphone vs. Tablet
Smartphone vs. Wearables
8. Wearables Market Size
$2.7 billion in revenue in 2012
Expected to reach $8.3 billion in 2018
Growing at CAGR ~ 17.71% from 2013 to 2018
Consumer application sector accounting for
$2.4 billion
Wrist-wear devices accounted for $876.70
million in revenue
Product shipments ~ 2.7 billion units in 2018
U.S. accounts for more than 80.00% of the
market
9. What’s Next?
Expect an eruption of Wearables
Apple will finally jump in early next year – Apple is behind the curve
No clear leader will emerge: war
between Google & Apple will heat
up mid next year
Innovation will come from small
startups
Consolidations as markets and
categories emerge