Smartphones, tablets and apps have changed people’s lives. How they interact with each other and how they interact with information has fundamentally changed in the past few years. A new class of devices have come out called Smartwatches which also have big potential to make an impact on the “smart” market.
With the recent leak by Apple that they are working on a Smartwatch (iWatch) and the recent releases by Samsung and others of smart watches which don’t require phone connectivity in order to offer great features it is becoming clear that smart watches will be important in the future.
How important remains to be seen of course and nobody can know for sure until a product hits the market and either earn wide acceptance or not. The current version of Google Glass has been in its current form for awhile and hasn’t been a hit for various reasons including social aspects about the device. However, Smartwatches such as the Pebble offer many of the key features that Google Glass had but without the social costs of wearing a device on your face. Smartwatches will be constantly connected to the internet, can receive voice commands and now run Android. The main benefit of the smartwatch is it offers quicker access to information without having to take a phone out of your pocket you can get access to notifications and information. For example to be able to quickly glance at an incoming phone call or text just by turning your wrist rather than having to take your smartphone out of your pocket. To know if you want to answer a phone call or ignore without having to take the phone out of your pocket or to even be able to respond to a text without having to take our your phone. It is clear in the future that doing things like payments using smart watches may also be possible meaning that you will no longer have to take your wallet out of your pocket to make a purchase. The only question left is will it be adopted.
Really its access to instant information just like the smartphone offers you but is in a quicker access format. Of course you may not want to write long Facebook post on your smartwatch but being able to glance down to see the most recent discussion or other information such as sports scores, bank balance or notifications of an upcoming meeting may offer real value. Specifically it offers even quicker access to information than is available on the smartphone and without the social stigma of something like Google Glass.
Push Interactions is already a registered SmartWatch developer and we have already started working on our first Smartwatch app. Even since we recently started developing for smartwatches the technology has changed making it easier to build. With the developer support and manufactures releasing smart watches it is becoming clear that there is a real potential for Smartwatches. It is a technology to keep an eye on.
Smartwatches are coming. In this new frontier remains to be seen if SmartWatches will live up to their potential. However, the potential is certainly there.
