Tag: smartwatches

Even though the wearable technology market is rapidly building in devices, applications are nearly nonexistent.

The wearables market is quickly flooding with smartwatches and other types of mobile gadgets that are worn on the wrist or other places on the body, but at the same time, there are very few applications that are available in the app stores for these devices.

Now that Android Wear has been released by Google, that is expected to change rather quickly.

Mobile app developers are already starting to enter into the race to become the leaders among the applications available for smartwatches. The popularity and growth of wearable technology is allowing them to be able to take hold of an opportunity that has been increasingly challenging – to the point of impossible, for many – when it comes to putting out a hit mobile app. As the number of applications for Android and iOS devices is now in the millions, it is difficult for a developer to stand out.

The number of apps for smartwatches is notably lower, making it far easier to be noticed by users.

What will be interesting is whether it will be games that will become the most popular among wearables – as is the case with smartphones and tablets – or whether it will be fitness and health tracker apps that will lead the way in these even smaller screen mobile gadgets.

BI Intelligence has recently released a report that provides some insight regarding the current ecosystem for wearable apps. It looked more closely at precisely why the present environment for wearable tech device applications is as limited as it is. Moreover, it also examined the way that certain categories for apps could help to make not only the developers, but also the device category, a tremendous mainstream success.

The report didn’t look exclusively at the market for smartwatches, but also looked at the broader spectrum of wearables and their apps. For example, the Google Glass apps space was examined, and the battle for dominance between Google and Apple were also discussed. Among the primary barriers that was identified was the fact that the wearables sphere is currently highly segmented. That may, however, not remain the case with Android Wear now in play, and with an iOS launch expected at some point this year.

The results of a new data analysis are now suggesting that smartwatches and other wearable tech may be great for employees.

According to the results of a study that was recently commissioned by Rackspace, the adoption of wearables within a workplace can be beneficial to the productivity of a company’s workers and can even help to boost job satisfaction.

As wearable technology becomes increasingly popular, this insight could help to boost its adoption.

The research showed that while wearables can have several benefits, there have also been concerns raised by professionals in IT departments, regarding the security of these newly released devices. They have cautioned that newly generated data could not only have a lower mobile security level than on laptops, smartphones, or tablets, but it could also cause an explosion in the workload for those IT departments as a range of new wearable technology devices – and all of their associated problems and questions – flood a workplace.

The findings of this wearables study are the result of the Human Cloud at Work project.

The Human Cloud at Work project examines the difference that mobile devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers can make to a corporate working environment. According to the project’s leader, Chris Brauer, “Wearable technologies are arguably the biggest trend since tablet computing, so it’s natural that employees and businesses will look to use these devices in the workplace.”

Brauer also went on to explain that “Using data generated from the devices, organizations can learn how human behaviors impact productivity, performance, well-being and job satisfaction.” The study indicated that nearly one in three large British businesses are already planning or practicing a trial or pilot program for wearable tech.

Though that figure may seem large, the American figure is even larger than that, as nearly two out of every three large businesses in the U.S. said that they were planning to or were currently testing the use of this type of gadget.

Clearly the predictions that 2014 would be the year of the wearables are proving to be quite true, as companies and consumers, alike, show their interest in this type of technology.