IEEE Computer Society took on the subject at Rock Stars of Wearables event
AUSTIN–Industry and thought leaders in the wearables space, a subset of the hot Internet of Things, gathered Sept. 22 to dissect the challenges and opportunities presented by integration of tech and our bodies.
The Rock Stars of Wearables event was hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society at Brazos Hall in downtown Austin, Texas.
During an afternoon panel, three wearables industry veterans–representing a wearables manufacturer, a wearables component manufacturer and the ancillary, but vital, cloud-computing sector–agreed that the wearables industry and market is still early in its maturity arc with widespread adoption, particularly in the enterprise, still down the road.
Moderated by Accenture’s wearable technology lead Brent Blum, panelists were WiseWare CEO Jerry Wilmink, Freescale Business Development Manager Sujata Neidig and Bernard Golden, vice president of strategy for ActiveState.
Golden discussed how the inconsistent flow of data from wearables, a running watch for example, is well suited for processing and analytics supported by a cloud computing platform.
“All of these kinds of products and services…have highly erratic workloads, they have a huge amount of data. A cloud computing environment is well suited to that.”
Neidig touched on the importance of making a wearable resonate with the user as a key to adoption; she also commented that, beyond the actual device, the attendant service is a big determinant of success.
“I think the killer app is what makes the user’s lifestyle simple and automated. The stickiness is really about changing your behavior and improving your lifestyle.”
Wilmink, whose San Antonio, Texas-based company specializes in high-end, stylish wearables, made the prediction that advancement in sensor technology and integration inherently limits the wearables market, which he said could disappear in five years.
“What we’ve done is merged jewelry and technology,” he said. “That’s kind of where we need to go” to create a seamless product experience. But, “I don’t think wearables will exist in five years” as sensors proliferate. “I think it’s going to be everything pushed to the cloud. We’ll each have our own RFID or signature.”
All three agreed that form factor can make or break a wearable product.
From the perspective of semiconductor development, Neidig said Freescale is focused on miniaturization balanced with processors compatible with low-power applications.
“We’re figuring out a path to get to these small, low-powered processors without increasing the cost dramatically,” she said.
Wilmink pointed out that wearables are transitioning from a, “Here’s the tech, now make it look good,” approach, to a more integrated, functional design approach. The key, he said, is making a device “contextually aware. What the user wants to know at that moment. Tell the user what the really want to know at that moment is key.”
Golden said the enterprise market, although usually slow at initial adoption, would eventually embrace wearables as a means to efficiency.
“In five years, it’ll have crossed the chasm,” he said, “and it’ll be obvious it’s the path forward. Enterprises always move slower than one would expect.”
