Wearable Technology - Now It's Personal

Wearable Technology Now It's Personal!

If you could be a device-wearing data machine, would you? Forget about your heart. Now you can wear your internet on your sleeve! Wearable device technologies are starting to make a splash in the public arena across many segments of society. Their presence is already being noticed in sports, fashion, shoes, science, medicine and military.

The WT market is so hot, Amazon just opened a "Wearable Technology Store" in April of this year.

To me, Wearable technology conjures up images of uber-outfitted soldiers, or astronauts wearing layers of super-secret space gear. To think that I could be wearing high tech gadgetry, and maybe even LIKE it? That's a bit of a stretch. I'm just a suburban mom. (Hands on hips, cape flowing behind me).These WT devices have no place in my world!

Oh boy, am I ever wrong. They're already here! I forgot about Bluetooth technology. Yep, it's wearable. Then there's the "spy" tie with it's embedded video camera. Did you know, there are gloves that have a USB connector so they can plug in to be heated? Have you seen the Nod Ring? It's a Bluetooth-enabled ring that allows you to control all your other WT devices. Or as Andy Boxall at DigitalTrends says, "It turns your finger into a high-tech magic wand." The Nod ring will be on every diva's Christmas list this year. Last but not least, we have the Google 'smart' glasses.

The Google glass is already showing promise in medical applications. Currently there's a Google glass app developed by BCMC that is used to treat vertigo. Beth Israel Hospital (affiliated with Harvard Medical School) is using Google glass to bring up records for the patient assigned to each exam room in the ER. There is another program under study where surgeons can wear the Google glass while performing surgery. Patient information can be accessed without the surgeon looking away from the operating field.

The Market

In Feb 2013, ABI Research released a report claiming wearable devices will exceed 485 MILLION annual shipments by 2018. That is only four years from now. What is 'novel' now will be commonplace in the next four years. That's huge! The wearable technology market is poised to explode into the stratosphere! Let that sink in for just a minute. 485 million shipments every year!. In 2012 the US population was estimated to be 313.9 million people. That's one shipment for every person, with 172 million shipments left over,,every year. Wow!

Are you ready?

It's exciting and definitely a bit cutting-edge. Channeling your inner superhero is about to get a whole lot easier. Soon you too can reassure your loved ones by boldly proclaiming "I'm on my way" into your wristwatch/phone/microwave/bread machine/amplifier.. Well, maybe that's a little over-the-top, but you get the point.

This article is the first in a series of exploring the crazy-hot WT market and what it means to the individual and how we can best make use of it while going about our everyday lives. In future articles I will discuss other markets impacted by WT. Such as sports. Did you know Nike is exiting the WT market? I'll cover that AND the top five most popular devices available right now.

See you next time!

-Carol (Cee Sharp)

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