A look at recent start-up and investment trends in the consumer technology market, makes it clear that the next wave of innovation is going to be in wearable technology. Major companies such as Google, Samsung, Nike and Sony, along with a raft of boutique manufacturers, are all pushing a new electronic accessories to market.
Personal computing is getting even more personal as the battle for digital space on your body ramps up. Just as smartphones and tablets displaced the once-dominant PC, so too wearable devices are now poised to radically redefine the boundaries of mobility and connectivity. With this new wearable revolution comes a flood of opportunities as the lines between fashion and technology blur.
Wearable is the new mobile
Advances in mobile computing technology have allowed screens, sensors and circuitry to become small enough, and portable enough, to enable a broad range of objects to be digitally enabled. These "smart", wearable gadgets take many forms, from Google's augmented reality glasses to health-focused fitness tracking wristbands from well-known vendors like Nike and Jabra, to rings that act as a secure digital password based on your heartbeat's unique pulse.
This is the promise of wearable technology. It is also the reason why, after more than two decades years of tinkering by cybernetics enthusiasts and researchers, we are only now seeing an explosion of these devices targeted at the consumer market.