By: Editor, Computer Wrist Watches
Tech companies all are looking for The Next Big Thing and they seem to think they’ve found it in the smartwatch. The big question, however, is whether consumers will share their enthusiasm for computer wrist watches. As two new smartwatches are unveiled on Wednesday, 9/4/13, everyone is asking which new device will make the wearable gadget cool?
Will it be Samsung’s new Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which JK Shin, the company’s co-chief executive unveiled in Berlin? The watch, which comes in five colors, responds to voice commands, has a camera that shoots video as well as photographs and lets you accept phone calls by speaking into the watch.
The cost reportedly will start at $299 for the watch, which will go on sale in October. The Gear will connect with the Galaxy Note III and 2014 edition of the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, both of which will debut in the next few weeks.
Qualcomm, best known for making chips, also announced a new computer wrist watch on Wednesday, though news of it was largely drowned out by Samsung’s announcement. Qualcomm unveiled its new watch, Toq, in San Diego. The touch-screen watch, which will go on sale later this year, will run on Android 4.0.3 and above and has a battery that lasts for days, according to the company.
A host of other high-profile smartwatches, including the Pebble, Martian and Cookoo, have already hit the market, and rumors continue to swirl that Apple and other companies also plan shortly to join the fray with computer wrist watches of their own.
Consumer demand for smartwatches currently is limited, with only 268,000 of the devices expected to ship in 2013, but demand is expected to rise sharply next year, according to a new report by IHS, a technology research firm.
IHS expects 2.6 million units to ship in 2014. The number is expected to reach 39 million units by 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment