Ready for some 100 “wearable” consumer electronic products? See the TV show, or show the TV show.
These products are coming from your favorite consumer electronic manufacturers, with
many more of them being shown at this week’s Consumer Electronics
Show than a year ago. While Personal Electronics 1.0 brought easily carried devices like smartphones and tablets, the consumer electronics industry now hopes devices will be even easier to carry
– you’ll just wear them.
A smartwatch? Samsung offered a new tick-tock in recent months. More are coming from Kronoz, Cookoo,
Sonostar, Metawatch, Archos, Burg and Pine. Cool eyewear? Google Glass started it. Now Epson, Vuzixand GlassUp also want to see you.
What about bigger screens for your forearms and thighs, or
perhaps for your feet or head? Maybe -- if they can also help you think, throw, run and dance a bit better. One company claims its product can adjust to body temperature by changing its fabric’s
thickness.
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Hand-held consumer products are looking to move full-scale into fashion electronics. You’ll never again have to look for your electronic device, as laziness-correcting
consumer electronics wear will be all the rage. Marketers will be salivating as consumers will never be without access to their marketing efforts.
For all this access, heavy discounts will
surely prevail. Privacy issues will again will be raised in anger.
Decades ago, when T-shirts began to tout brand logos, walking billboards for every marketer was the hope. More recently, we
became fond of eyeing fashion, such as handbags, with understated logos. Now think small 1-inch video screens.
Near-term, wrist devices will be key. But, as with smartphones and tablets,
wearable devices will need to find a “killer app” that propels them to their own center of gravity – so they’re not dependent on existing mobile apps.
Will that app be
video-related? Maybe. More social media stuff is surely coming , with snappy electronic programs related to popular entertainment that might include TV and video.
What time is it? Wait, let me
look right here. Must be time for a sitcom -- or some reality.