 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
The 2002 movie “Minority Report” portrayed a futuristic vision of advertising as the lead character, John Anderton, enters a shopping mall that identifies him from retina scans and pitches personalized ads to him as he walks by: “John Anderton, you could use a Guinness right about now.” That scene influenced a generation of marketers.
I riffed on this premise with a cartoon a few years ago in which John Anderton is publicly subjected to ads for hemorrhoid medication and incontinence pads based on his purchase history (cartoon at the end of this post).
The rise of voice AI and the internet of things opens up another domain of personalized advertising more personal than the mall — the home.
A robotic policeman which can help identify wanted criminals and collect evidence has joined Dubai's police force and will patrol busy areas in the city, as part of a government program aimed at replacing some human crime-fighters with machines. If the "Robocop" experiment is successful, Dubai Police says it wants the unarmed robots to make up 25 percent of its patrolling force by 2030. Clad in the colors of the Dubai Police uniform, the life-size robot, which can shake hands and perform a military salute, is the lighter side of a government plan to use technology to improve services and security ahead of Dubai hosting Expo 2020....
The wearable technology market is expected to reach USD 51.60 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.51% between 2016 and 2022. Among the major factors propelling the growth of the wearable technology market are consumer preferences for sophisticated gadgets, increasing growth prospects of next-generation displays in wearable devices, and growing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices. However, the shorter life cycle of the consumer electronics sector would hamper the overall growth of the wearable technology market."Infotainment and multimedia estimated to cover maximum share of the wearable technology market" The major products in the infotainment include smart watches, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets, multimedia players with computing facilities, and smart goggles among others. The use of AR and VR in the field of entertainment and video gaming would help the wearable technology market to grow. For instance, Sony Corporation (Japan) introduced the video PlayStation with the VR glasses. These factors would drive the growth of the wearable technology market for infotainment and multimedia."Smartwatch expected to grow at the highest rate in the product segment of the wearable technology market" Wristbands and smartwatches are wearable computing devices, which are majorly used for tracking the wellness of the user. The smartwatch is a sophisticated and fashionable wearable device. This device could be connected to mobiles phones with several apps for displaying the data over the phone. Major companies such as Apple, Inc. (U.S.), Samsung Electronics (South Korea), and Fitbit, Inc. (U.S.) among others have developed such products, which satisfy the customer's need for fitness and healthcare. Hence, the consumers are more inclined to purchase such smartwatches....
Beecham Research`s Wearable Technology Application Chart. Free Powerpoint version here. . . . . Plus, see video interview of Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO of Beecham Research, on future of Wearables - at this link.
A three year research report from IDTechEx estimates that the global wearable technology market will be worth over $30 billion in 2016. The report says that the market will grow in three stages: 9% annually to over $40 billion in 2018, but then accelerating to 23% through to over $100 billion by 2023, before slowing to 10% to reach over $150 billion by 2026. The report details IDTechEx's coverage of the wearable technology ecosystem, which looks at the industry from many different perspectives, with detailed discussion framing core primary research and market forecasting. It studies the historical context for wearable technology products, looking at key yet contrasting sectors such as medical devices and commodity infotainment items like headphones or electronic watches. The report includes sections on key product areas such as fitness trackers, smartwatches, smart clothing, smart eyewear (including AR and VR), smart skin patches, headphones, etc. It also looks separately by application sector, including healthcare and medical, fitness and wellness, professional sports, infotainment, enterprise, military and fashion....
Overview Building upon a study performed in 2014, PwC launched the 2016 Consumer Intelligence Series report on wearables to better understand the wearable technology consumption landscape and identify trends in the industry to unearth potential opportunities and applications. We sampled 1,000 US consumers via an online survey to explore consumer behavior and preferences towards wearables. This research primarily focused on the attitudes consumers have towards wearable technology, as well as an in depth look at penetration and usage of various types of devices. Additionally, we explored the benefits and underlying motivations behind usage and how it impacts both individuals and society....
In a weekend, you can build a custom, street-legal motorcycle with nothing but a wrench and some hand tools. Introducing FOSMC: The Fictiv Open Source Motorcycle.
It’s a wait and see moment for wrist-worn devices. After a few years of betting heavily on the space, this most recent CES didn’t offer much; save for two or three smartwatch announcements, some partnerships and a couple of middling bands, the industry seems to have largely shifted its focus toward the connected home and the seemingly attainable dream of sticking Alexa in everything. Some of the hesitation on the part of manufacturers no doubt owes much to the delay of Android Wear 2.0 — which really couldn’t have come at a less opportune time, missing both the holiday rush and the biggest tech show of the year. The latest version of Google’s wearable operating system is due out next month — likely February 2. When it arrives, it’ll greet an industry licking its wounds. The disappointing CES was really par for the course following a fairly lackluster — and in some cases toxic — 2016....
RIP Pebble… The wearable maker that pioneered wrist-based notifications before Apple and many others waded into the smartwatch space has confirmed it’s closing its doors as an independent entity.
Late last month rumors emerged that Fitbit was set to acquire Pebble — with our sources telling us the price-tag was between $34 million and $40M, a figure they said “barely” covered the startup’s debts. Although the company avoided an explicit confirmation of the rumor by tweeting a shrug emoji until now.
Today Pebble’s CEO Eric Migicovsky has published a blog with official confirmation of the acquisition and details of what will happen to Pebble products. The post does not confirm the acquisition price, however....
We already know at least one method the hackers are using. According to security intelligence firm Flashpoint, their researchers have observed a Mirai botnet attacking Dyn. Flashpoint researcher Zach Wikholm had identified two kinds of device that were used in the DDoS. The first was a DVR running the software of the Chinese company previously-identified as being a key target of the Mirai hackers – Hangzhou XiongMai Technologies (XM). The other was a network-attached storage device with a username and password of “root/root”.
Roland Dobbins, principal engineer at Arbor Networks, agrees: ”A significant proportion of the DDoS attack traffic targeting Dyn is being sourced from compromised IoT devices participating in Mirai botnets.”...
But when it comes to smart devices already owned and desired by shoppers, things that control temperature are more likely to be on the minds of consumers, based on a pair of surveys conducted by Creative Channel Services, a unit of the Omnicom Group, for Twice. One study was a survey of 185 shoppers and the other of an unspecified number of sales associates in multiple retail categories, including big-box national chains, mobile carriers, office supply stores and specialty stores. Sales associates say there is little activity around connected kitchens but lots of interest in home security devices. Here’s what salespeople say is the first smart-home device customers tend to buy: 59% -- Security 42% -- Thermostat/climate control 29% -- Entertainment controls 24% -- Lighting 3% -- Connected kitchen...
But features and functionality are not the only thing that’s important to internet users—price is almost as important. In fact, more respondents said that price was an important factor in a smart watch than quality, style or even brand. When it comes to how much they would be willing to spend on a smart watch, 45% of females said they would spend less than $100 on watches, while 30% of men said they would spend the same amount. More men are willing to spend bigger on a smart watch, though: 23% said they would spend more than $300, vs. just 11% of women. According to eMarketer, usage of wearables, like smart watches, will grow by nearly two-thirds this year. But cost is still holding many consumers back from purchasing a device. Research from Kentico, an ecommerce and online marketing platform, found that 69% of internet users worldwide said that cost was one of the top reasons for not purchasing a smart watch. And more than a third said that there were just not enough reasons to use it....
Sunaina had landed at the Delhi airport in the wee hours of the morning and was in a cab when she noticed the driver taking a detour. That made her uneasy. He said he wanted to fill petrol. But the car was entering unknown territory and he was refusing to stop.
So she did something James Bond would do. She reached for her glass pendant and pressed it twice…
Sunaina is not her real name, but her story is. And unlike what happens to many women travelers in India, nothing untoward happened in this case. The pendant – actually a gadget called SAFER that can send out SOS alerts – might have saved the day.
“It served as an empowering device. The woman could convince the driver that he was being monitored,” says Paras Batra, co-founder of Leaf Wearables, the startup that makes SAFER....
|
Mike Frane, VP of product management at Windstream, told dozens of tech-industry watchers at Boston's recent MassIntelligence Conference that "the retail industry is going to be least likely to adopt AI."
But Frane sandwiched this remark between compelling monologues on the bandwidth woes of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.
"What we're seeing in the enterprise world is that the bandwidth requirements are doubling every 18 months," Frane said in his breakout session. The conundrum is further exacerbated, reported Frane, by trends and demands of the Internet of Things – a key enabling technology of AI systems – and the "tremendous amount of information" that the IoT will gather and generate....
What if tattoos weren’t just decorative, but could convey real-time data about your body? That’s the vision of the MIT Media Lab researcher Katia Vega, whose project DermalAbyss explores the possibilities of tattoos inked with biosensors instead of traditional ink. In collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Vega created three different types of biosensor inks that measure the shifts in interstitial fluid in your skin, changing color based on the levels of glucose, sodium, or pH in your body. Vega, who is a computer scientist by training and is currently opening a computer science department at Peru’s University of Engineering and Technology, believes the skin can act as a new kind of interface. She’s been researching what she calls “beauty technology” for seven years, combining cosmetics and electronics to create things like smart fake eyelashes, conductive makeup, and RFID-enabled nail polish. But while these former projects enable wearers to interact with the outside world through different types of cosmetic interfaces, injecting biosensors below the skin allows Vega to connect internal biological processes with external interfaces. “I wanted to go deeper, not just on the top of your epidermis,” she says....
According to the new market research report "Wearable Technology Market by Product (Wristwear, Headwear/Eyewear, Footwear, Neckwear, Bodywear), Type (Smart Textile, Non-Textile), Application (Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Enterprise & Industrial), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", The wearable technology market is expected to grow from USD 15.74 Billion in 2015 to reach USD 51.60 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.51% between 2016 and 2022. The future growth of the wearable technology market is expected to be driven by consumer preference for sophisticated gadgets, increasing growth prospects of next-generation displays in wearable devices, and growing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices....
CCS Insight has updated its outlook on the future of wearable tech, indicating that 411 million smart wearable devices, worth a staggering $34 billion, will be sold in 2020. The analyst claims the industry will hit $14 billion this year, with wrist-based devices – such as smartwatches and fitness trackers – continuing to dominate. Its forecast states half of all wearable tech sales over the next 12 months will be from these genres, with smartwatches making up 50% of the estimated 60 million shipments. Back in mid-2015 CCS claimed that around 20 million Apple Watches would be sold in the calendar year but it is now stating that just over 9 million Cupertino smartwatches were sold before 2016 arrived. That’s a number that gives it, according to the report, a 41 percent market share. Earlier this month Canalys estimated that Apple shipped 12 million smartwatches in 2015 – a figure it claimed was worth two-thirds of the total smartwatch market. Gartner had stated a week earlier that around 30 million smartwatches were shifted in 2015. So that’s estimates of 18, 22 and 30 million from three of the biggest analysts, proving that it’s not an exact science....
The latest figures from IDC show Fitbit continues to lead the way in global wearable device sales, but Apple slides alarmingly down the table. According to the most recent Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker analysis, Fitbit sold 5.3 million units in Q316, up from 4.8m this time last year, while the company’s overall market share has risen to 23.0% from 2.14% in Q315. This rise can partly be attributed to Apple’s relative demise. With 3.9m units shipped in the third quarter of 2015, Cupertino held second place and a market share of 17.5%, yet this year it has fallen to 1.1m, fourth place overall, and a year over year growth of -71%. Xiaomi and Garmin, with 3.8m and 1.3m units respectively in Q316, have the silver and bronze medals and show modest growth year on year....
Around one-in-two wearable technology owners are aged between 20-39 years and are most likely to be independent young adults or adults with young children. Their personal income is 16% higher than the national average. Wearable devices are particularly popular with Wellingtonians.
Wearable technology owners are career-driven. Forty-two percent say they want to get to the top in their career. They are also more likely to say their work is more than a job, their work colleagues are among their best friends, and that they often respond to emails at home and on the weekend.
This group of consumers also live and breathe active lifestyles. Six-in-10 (59%) say exercise is an important part of their regular routine and 25% go to the gym at least twice a week. Around three-in-four (73%) say they try to balance healthy eating with their busy lifestyle....
The growth of the internet of things (IoT) is drastically changing how consumers interact with their cars, homes and appliances, but the aptly named second digital revolution has major implications for industry too. From machine-learning, machine-to-machine communication to artificial intelligence, the industrial internet of things (IIoT) takes IoT technologies and directly applies them to industrial concerns and in the process improves efficiency and productivity.While consumer-focused IoT solutions have dominated headlines in recent years and the relatively long life cycles of industrial equipment has limited growth in this sector so far, major firms and manufacturers are beginning to embrace IIoT on a big scale, attracted by the opportunity to drive down costs and increase competitiveness.Developments in the IIoT environment over the next few years can be expected to increase adoption further, leaving few companies ignoring its future, with a survey by software company Infor finding that 52 per cent of manufactures believe IoT is a priority for their business....
Don’t expect to see too many wearable devices like Apple Watches and Fitbits under Christmas trees this year—they’re not on many wish lists.eMarketer has significantly revised its estimates of wearable-device users in the US. The still-young category showed early promise, but usage has not expanded beyond early adopters. In October 2015, eMarketer expected usage among US adults to grow more than 60% this year. But according to its latest forecast, it will only grow 24.7%, as smart watches in particular have failed to impress consumers. This year, 39.5 million US adults will use a wearable device (with internet connectivity) at least once a month, far less than the 63.7 million previously forecast. Smart watches haven’t caught on in large numbers, primarily because of their high price point and lack of definitive use case. This year, usage of wearables will reach just 15.8% of the population. That penetration rate is only expected to grow to 21.1% by 2020....
Here’s an object lesson on the poor state of the so-called Internet of Things: Robert Stephens plugged a Wi-Fi-connected security camera into his network and it was compromised in… 98 seconds.
Stephens, a tech industry veteran, wasn’t so naive as to do this without protecting himself. It was walled off from the rest of the network and rate-limited so it couldn’t participate in any DDoS attacks.
He monitored its traffic carefully, expecting to see — as others have — attempts to take over the device. But even the most jaded among us probably wouldn’t have guessed it would take less than two minutes.
Health tech startup Cardiogram has raised $2 million in a seed round led by the a16z Bio Fund for an app that screens users’ cardio health and gives them help improving or maintaining it.
The company started out with an Apple Watch integrated app, initially. But it is ultimately planning to be a “device agnostic” business, and to make its app utilizable with all manner of wearables such as Android Wear watches, or various fitness bands and activity trackers from the likes of Fitbit or Garmin.
In addition to the seed funding round, Cardiogram today unveiled what it’s calling “an app store for habits,” in which it features apps for guided meditation, or physical and mental health exercises, which the startup believes will help its users improve or maintain good heart health....
The future landscape of the Internet of Things will be largely occupied by virtual reality and augmented reality products and services. With new entrants on the consumer hardware side like Sony’s just-released PlayStation VR, which is expected to sell millions of units by the end of the year, the VR and AR markets are growing. The VR and AR market is forecast to grow by almost 30 times its size after 2020, according to a new study from Citi’s Global Perspectives and Solutions group. In the next four years, the AR and VR market is forecast to grow to $80 billion. However, the market will grow to $2.16 trillion by 2035, according to Citi. Another recent study by Machina Research forecasts the entire IoT market to reach $3 trillion by 2025. Almost half ($1.3 trillion) of that revenue will come directly from end-users paying for products and services, according to that study....
London-based Vinaya is dedicated to creating what cofounder Kate Unsworth, a 28-year-old musician and former tech management consultant, calls "conscious technology for the mindful generation." The design firm’s chic wearables fit right in at luxury and fashion-forward retailers. Two more buzzed-about products are due to launch next year: AltruisX, a collection of rings, necklaces, and bracelets that filter mobile alerts and track smartphone usage, and Zenta, a "biometric" wearable that monitors the user’s physical and emotional well-being. And several designer collaborations are in the works....
|
Could wearables change your marketing strategy? Find out more.
Article raises 4 interesting paths to investigate for marketers and technologists as well.