The smartwatch/wearable device phase is just getting started. Sure, we've already seen plenty of devices land on the market that have seen their fair share of attention, some of them genuinely deserving of that limelight, but 2014 is going to be the real push from manufacturers. Just look at the start of the year. Both Samsung and Pebble, two companies that vied for all of the wearable attention in 2013, released devices that would have been even better had they released last year. Improvements in all of the areas that needed to be improved, which means if anyone skipped those devices for specific reasons in 2013, there's a chance they've been fixed in a few key ways this year.
We've known since the start of last year that it was going to be this year, 2014, that was going to be the real big shove for the wearable market. While Samsung, and Pebble and a plethora of other companies, released their own devices into the wild, plenty of other companies had been firmly placed in the rumor pile. (Yes, there were wearable devices released earlier than 2013, but the market didn't really pay much attention until last year.)
Those companies are still churning through the Rumor Mill, mind you. Apple and Microsoft are the heavy hitters that have been talked about releasing a wearable device this year, but as you can imagine there hasn't been much in the way of concrete information yet. The iWatch is a thing, probably, and Microsoft may shove their new Cortana feature into a device you strap onto a wrist. Or, neither one of those things will happen anytime soon. As it stands right now, it's all one in the same.
Google, another company that was rumored quite a bit to be launching their own smartwatch, did what Google does best: Release a platform to build something for, attach the Android name to it, and call it good. Now Google doesn't actually have to make any hardware. LG and Motorola (Lenovo) will be the first to market with an Android Wear wearable, and other companies like HTC have pledged their allegiance to the movement moving forward. (Which makes sense for HTC, since the company has confirmed they're building a smartwatch. At least now we know one detail!)
Honestly, if there was ever a hint that Apple was considering a wearable device, Google's big play in the expanding market is it. No, it doesn't necessarily guarantee anything from the Cupertino-based company, but it doesn't hurt, either. If you're still hopeful for a device like that, well, we may actually be getting closer to its unveiling at some point this year.
As I said above, the wearable market is getting a lot of attention, and it's only going to get (better or worse, insert your word of choice here) from here on out. And as these companies start to release more products, on platforms that are easy to build things for, you can bet your bottom dollar that other companies are starting to pay attention, too. Companies that make it their business to know your business, what you like, what you might like, and push for you to buy all sorts of things at any given moment in a day.
Advertisements are something that we've had to get used to seeing on the Internet every day. And, throughout 2012 and into 2013, we had to deal more and more with ads on our mobile devices, especially in our notification shades. Recent decisions by carriers suggest that we could be seeing even more ads before too long. Advertisements are an important thing to business, probably more so than ever before, so we shouldn't be all that surprised.
Which is why when I saw a suggestion of the future of advertisements, and how it could relate to the "fourth screen" or our smartwatches, I had to take a moment to try and compose myself. This is something that I could see happening, even if it doesn't happen this year. As these devices are meant to be a natural extension to our mobile devices, seeing an ad on our smartwatch, that could open an application on our phone if we enter a particular business, just seems like a logical step down the road.
This could definitely get us one step closer to those "Minority Report" electronic billboards, the ones that know your name, your shopping habits, and tell you where to buy the things you like to buy as you walk the space. Now, as you enter one of your favorite restaurants, your watch could buzz and tell you about the special of the day, or even offer up some daily deals just for being there and "checking in."
The implementation is something that I don't necessarily want to think about too much, because I'd love to say it can't work in any kind of way that would intrude in our lives, but I imagine that that's a pipe dream if anything like this were to ever happen. However, the idea seems standard enough. Likely, even. No, I don't think we'd see something like this this year, but I don't think this is a screen that advertisers are going to want to miss, especially since these accessories are meant to help us look at our phones even less.
How do you feel about the concept of advertisements on our wearable devices? If that's something that starts happening, would you never wear a smart device? Or is that something you could accept as just a natural next step kind of situation? Let me know!
Image via Mashable
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