You can love them, hate them or feel indifferent towards these new wrist computers – but you can’t ignore them. The hype is fever pitch and journalists tout “get ready for year of the smartwatch’. But what does it mean?
We’re interested in new watch innovations, so please reply with any innovations you’ve spotted or ideas that you have.
Here are some early advances:
- Apple apps apps apps: Asos and Ocado have led the first wave of UK retail apps for the Apple watch. Asos’ app will integrate with Apple’s Hand’s Off feature allowing users to switch between devices. Ocado also aims to make use of omnichannel connections, with a new app that boasts a shopping time of 15 seconds.
- A new product for the watch industry: Swatch is on the case – releasing their version in May. They are letting the electronics companies put their kit into the Swatch wrapper.
Montblanc has introduced the TimeWalker Urban Speed e-Strap. It’s an electronic strap that’s attached to an analogue watch to create “a smartwatch with a screen that sits on the underside of the wrist to display alerts and notifications.”
Garmin has unveiled Vivoactive, a wristband that “tracks your activity level, assigns goals and marks milestones, helping move you toward a healthier lifestyle”
- Pay by wrist: Smartwatch payment is becoming a ‘must-have feature’, particularly Apple Pay. Retailers have only just mastered ‘tap and pay’ – now they will need it on watches.
- Live art Innovation: The Apple Watch allows you to share information in unusual ways – you can send data that allows another person to feel your heartbeat on their wrist. This data could be used for live art installations. Vocal pieces could be created and data could be synced across thousands of different users who project or emit the sounds of overlapping heartbeats.
- Personalisation: Retailers will look for original ways to get even closer to their customers without getting lost in the crowd of information that will inevitably hit watch screens.
- Here comes the Lifestyle CV: Perhaps you have too many drinks on Friday or you burn insufficient calories on Monday. Maybe your heart rate is racing when you run up the stairs. Your watch will keep track and arm you with the detailed information and advice.