A Quick One Off the Wrist

Free the wrist

Chances are you don't call up about your wrists all that much during the day, but upwards until at present, wearable companies have been obsessed with them. Startups and established companies akin accept tried to brand the Dick Tracy watch a reality. While this approach has met some success with techie consumers, it has received less enthusiasm from those of u.s.a. who aren't going for an Optimus Prime number look. The trouble is that wrists are highly visible. For almost of united states, what we vesture is a fashion statement and an expression of how we desire to present ourselves. And when we nowadays ourselves with a clunky device wrapped around our arm that buzzes and blinks with every alert, information technology can warrant a few eye-rolls. Many people view wearables every bit the latest niche gizmo for tech enthusiasts, rather than a tool that makes our lives more than convenient and efficient.

One of the virtually notorious VC's, Kleiner Perkins recently wrote, that "nosotros need to begin to call up well-nigh these devices not every bit wearables, but as pervasive devices that are integrated into every facet of our lives." Shockingly, even i of the first smartwatch companies, Pebble, is starting to rethink the wrist with the announcement of their Pebble Core.

This shift in thinking comes equally companies realize that many demographics, and especially the children's and youth market in which nosotros're interested (more than to come below), just aren't used to wearing something on the wrist every mean solar day. Quoting the New York Times, there's a lot of "wearables you won't want to wear" and many merely finish up in your junk drawer.

Engineering science should be unnoticeable, blending seamlessly into the background, which is why the side by side generation of wearables will eventually be invisible. When a habiliment product is organically woven into daily life, its usefulness will polish. The best wearable is the one that you reach for every day, non an bad-mannered add-on to your wardrobe. Google's Project Jacquard is just the showtime of this emerging space.

Kids are a great place to start

As recently highlighted by Chicago Inno, our team at Jio is edifice the next moving ridge of wearables; we're calling them, "invisibles". But mayhap what's more interesting is that nosotros're starting with children. Our showtime product, Jiobit, which volition open up for pre-orders after this summertime, is focused on the children's market. We're setting out to solve a big problem I had equally a parent; giving my kids some of the freedoms I enjoyed growing upward, without losing my mind worrying nearly them.

As IoT and wearables motion beyond the often feared hype cycle, companies that succeed volition be those that help solve real meaty bug instead ofbuilding another fad gadget (or Levi's jacket) that ends up at the back of your junk drawer. We're focusing on children first because we believe this market presents that opportunity. Earlier worrying about tracking our kids steps, or communicating with them via a smartwatch, we need to become them out of the house. We should be encouraging our kids to exist more contained and to experience the freedoms that we had every bit kids. To exercise this nosotros need to feel confident that they're prophylactic -  that'south the solution we're offering at Jio. We know that parents value their child's safety above an internet connected light bulb or dismissing a phone call on their sleeve [see nautical chart below]. So if we're going to move off the wrist, this is a smashing identify to commencement.

Secondly, kids don't article of clothing watches. And when you lot try to force them to clothing one, you volition likely get a reaction much similar my kids gave me when I tried! [ real image upwardly top] Who can blame them? Electric current wearables are heavy, bulky and distracting. Information technology tin can be hard enough to convince your child to put on real pants in the morn, let alone a clunky "child-friendly" device that's twice every bit big equally the Apple Watch. By exploring "invisibles" for kids, we stop upwards solving a real user problem for parents and a form gene issue for the wearer.

Lastly—and hither's where things become actually interesting—this space is ripe for innovation. The current generation of products is basically built in the same way you would build a prison cell phone... jammed into a sentinel form cistron. Just like your phone, they come with a large battery (hence the size) and the terrible bombardment life that goes along with it (despite the size). It's a quick and easy way to build a production...but similar most quick and easy solutions, it skips out on the strategic thinking required to really movement the needle.

Blueprint Innovation

But what if you grabbed a bunch of the all-time engineers in the industry, and attack a path to solve these problems? You would build something from the ground upwards, from the organisation architecture, to the electronics and printed circuit lath, to the Cloud, to auto learning...and you lot would innovate in new means. You would not call up of a wearable product as a phone on your wrist, but as an invisible tool that was dependable, ubiquitous and sensitive to context. It would synchronize with the cloud and operate independently from your smartphone. How might we innovate here to radically change how these products are designed and engineered?

What if information technology could run on ultra-low power, relieving parents of the burden of having to charge it every solar day? What if it was and so light, yous forgot it was in that location? What if it was then minor, it was incognito?

Those are the "what if" questions we asked and now, nosotros have answered them. Keep up with us (sign upwards on our site)on how we're going to free the wrist, starting with your all-time and near important investment - your kid.

-John Renaldi
CEO & Founder, Jio

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Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moving-off-wrist-path-invisible-wearables-john-renaldi

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