Wearable electronic devices, or simply wearables, have emerged from specialized markets such as the medical sector and the military and are aggressively entering the mass market. Fitness trackers such as the FitBit, smartwatches such as Samsung’s Gear, and head mounted displays such as Google Glass can accelerate a wearer’s access to information while offering greater convenience.
Wearable computing is converging with the mainstream mobile sector and driving growth in both industries. Wearables will help expand the mobile sector, but they will also provide significant benefits for almost every other industry as well.
Wearables can be categorized into seven primary areas of application:
- Mobile: One Among Many - The wearables experiencing the biggest push in the market at the moment function as extensions of the wearers' mobile devices.
- Measuring Myself - These wearables draw data from the wearers' activities and physical condition, and they help users better understand their daily activities - sleep, exercise, work.
- Immersive Experiences - Augmented reality and virtual reality are both rising, and their applications in wearables promise to further immerse users in their digital interactions.
- Spying on Myself - Wearable recording devices (i.e. cameras or microphones) - previously relegated to spy shops - are being used for liability purposes, personal/ mobile security, and recording personal or organizational legacies.
- Thinking Outside the Brain - Neurotech is breaking out of the lab to help organisations and individuals gain greater insight on their behavior as well as control certain devices.
- Wearing My Password - Biometric authentication can be more secure than passwords, but the real benefit will be the convenience of signing in to anything, anywhere with the wave of a hand.
- Feeling the Data - Haptic feedback is very effective at alerting mobile phone users to incoming messages, but it can communicate more complex information - GPS directions and potentially news feeds such as stock quotes.
Wearables accelerate access to information, and they increase the types of information made practical in a variety of industries. While maintaining a constant connection, wearers will be able to work hands free allowing wearers to track more information and multitask more effectively. Wearables will also increase security and play a part in improving memory. These benefits will enable individuals to optimize their performance of everything from exercise and driving to teaching and stock trading. One study has already indicated that wearables can increase productivity and even job satisfaction.
Wearables will help ramp up the changes spurred by the advent of the internet, but they will also intensify the existing questions surrounding privacy, security and society's definition of humanity. As the devices enter the mainstream, the cost for R&D will drop, and more organisations will be able to utilize the devices to their full potential. Employees will also want to wear their own devices to work (similar to other BYOD policies), and organisations will have to decide how to regulate their use.
The trends and their implications are further explored in our latest trend report, Wearing IT: Trends Expanding the Wearable Web. In it, we also explore wearables' benefits for:
- Medical and caregiving
- Security and defense
- Training and simulation
- Transport and logistics
- Banking and finance
- Marketing and advertising
- Travel and Tourism
We are also hosting 2 free webinars that will cover the basic findings from the report. Both webinars will require the download of GoToWebinar software or mobile app to attend. Please register here: