Wearable Technology – The Basics

Ahmed Bouzid – Co-Founder & CEO, XOWi, Inc.Weiye Ma – Co-Founder &CTO, XOWi, Inc.

Wearable Tech Group September WorkshopSeptember 10, 2013

Wearable Technology?

What’s the fuss all about?

Isn’t everything that we wear already some sort of technology?

A manufactured tool that solves a problem? Clothing Glasses Hearing aids Watches Cell Phones: Worn on belt

The Wearables in Our Lives

To: keep us warm

To protect us from injury (shoes)

Protect us from disease (gloves)

Aesthetics - makes us look good

Meaning: rings, expensive clothesGlasses

A bit more technologically sophisticated

Improves our vision

Protects against sun glareHearing aids

Improves our hearingThe cell phone

Worn on belt

Watches

Tells time: Pocket watch, Wrist watch

Digital watch: Time, timers, stop watches

Form & Function

Wearables =

Aesthetics + Pragmatics It needs to look good as well as do

its job

Balance changes from one wearable to another Digital watches: Function more

important than form Sun glasses: Looking good is crucial

Why a Wearable?

Don’t have to look for it: you forget it’s there until you need it

You don’t have to put it away: when you are done with it, you just go on (unlike a smartphone – you have to put it back where it was)

Can’t lose it (vs. smartphone device) – it’s attached to your body

It’s the cool thing (until it becomes mainstream)

The New Wearables

Wearable is an electronic device that extends the functionality of your smartphone

Smart Watches: Sony, Pebble, Samsung, etc. Wrist Bands - UP Google Glass Bluetooth ear phones

Some new ones

Embrace+ Bracelet Kapture audio recorder Memoto camera XOWI Voice Companion

The New Possibilities

Ever shrinking devices Large mainframes/minis/desktops/laptops/tablets/smartphone/wearables Size growing smaller -> opens new use possibilitiesForms rarely fully replace one another other Overlaps: tablet and laptop / smartphone and tablet / smartphone and wearables Each device has its strengths:

Tablet vs. Laptop Smartphone vs. Tablet Smartphone vs. Wearables

Wearables Market Size

$2.7 billion in revenue in 2012

Expected to reach $8.3 billion in 2018

Growing at CAGR ~ 17.71% from 2013 to 2018

Consumer application sector accounting for $2.4 billion

Wrist-wear devices accounted for $876.70 million in revenue

Product shipments ~ 2.7 billion units in 2018

U.S. accounts for more than 80.00% of the market

What’s Next?

Expect an eruption of Wearables

Apple will finally jump in early next year – Apple is behind the curve

No clear leader will emerge: war between Google & Apple will heat up mid next year

Innovation will come from small startups

Consolidations as markets and categories emerge