I read this in an article on The Age website the other day:
‘Smartwatches, which connect to your smartphone, are going to create an entirely new category of computing in the coming year," said Sarah Rotman Epps, a former Forrester analyst who specializes in wearable computing. She noted that the long-awaited Apple smartwatch, which is expected to be announced in 2014, could change the way we engage with our wrist in the same way Apple changed the cellphone industry in 2007.‘
The bit that had me in tears was ‘…could change the way we engage with our wrist in the same way Apple changed the cellphone industry in 2007.‘
The way in which we engage with our wrist? Are you kidding me? That’s just utterly ridiculous.
Every analyst, forecaster and predictor has his or her view on technology. And that’s okay. But I’m pretty sure the only time humanity has ever engaged with their wrist is through slap bands and telling the time.
Of course the argument will be, ‘Well you didn’t realise how much you needed this until it was invented.’ That was pretty much the reasoning behind every Steve Jobs product release.
But let me clear one thing up. It’s a part of human nature to make life easier for ourselves. That’s why we invented things like the toaster, the car, the PC and doors. They all make life easier.
The smartphone too makes life easier. It’s a mini supercomputer in your pocket. Now the smartwatch comes along and purports to do what a smartphone does…on your wrist. Remember, humans want to make life easier, not more difficult, right?
So here’s my challenge. Take a watch, any watch. If you already have a smartwatch, put that on. But a boring old analogue watch will do. Now put it on. Now imagine typing a text message on the face of that watch. Hmmmm…
How about an email? Or even better try and take an imaginary photo with the face of that watch. If you’re a professional contortionist the last problem doesn’t apply to you.
Let me make this simple for you if you haven’t done any of the above. A smartwatch does one thing really well. Tell the time. It also does a lot of other things rather poorly, or average…maybe satisfactory at best.
But typing an email, sending a text message, taking a picture…snapchatting, tweeting, vineing, and instagramming? These things would be next to impossible. (Note: most smartwatches can’t do any of those things anyway).
‘But Sam, a smartwatch will have voice recognition technology. So that solves the email, texting issue.’
Does it?
Ever been on a packed tram, train or bus? Think about broadcasting to the world your personal text messages in a crowd of 100. Maybe at pub with some mates and your girlfriend/boyfriend is texting you. Feel like telling everyone how much you miss ‘Snookum’ or ‘Lovey Love’?
You get the picture.
For what it’s worth I have a smartwatch. It’s the Sony SmartWatch 2. It’s a handy bit of kit for telling me the time and checking part emails and part text messages without getting my phone out of my pocket. But that’s it!
No smartwatch will ever replace the mini supercomputer in my pocket. Smartwatches from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and whoever else might get a lot of headlines this year. But so did Minidisc when it came out. Revolutionise music it will, put an end to big record labels it must…nope. It didn’t.
MP3′s and the RIO, Zune and iPod came along to end that little blip on the radar.
Or then there’s the wonderfully promising yet ultimately pointless technology, the QR code. Great idea…pointless execution. When you think about it, how does it make your life any easier at all? Open an app to line up a square barcode that takes you to a website.
How about open up your web browser and go to the website? See what I mean? Technology is supposed to make life easier, better, more efficient. QR codes don’t do that. The Minidisc didn’t either.
Smartwatches will have the same fate. The common claim is it will replace your smartphone. Nope, same situation. Technology will move faster than it takes smartwatches to get interesting.
Google Glass, Vuzix, and Recon Jet are some visual devices that will streak past the Smartwatch within the next year or so. And there will be others that come to market that currently don’t even exist. The future is one of ‘Immersive Technology’ that will reshape the way day-to-day life happens for everyone.
In fact, you can already buy Vuzix and Recon Jet. Then of course there are implantable chips, electronic tattoos and bendable, printed plastic electronics. These are technologies that, although they might seem scary and even a little crazy, are the ones that will add more benefit to day-to-day life than a fancy watch.
Technology rarely stands still. Sometimes the timing just doesn’t fit for some technologies. Smartwatches are one where you’ll look back in a couple years and think, ‘That was good kit but ultimately pointless.’
It’s technology for technology’s sake. And that never works.
Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst
Publisher’s Note: Before the Christmas holiday we mentioned that we were exploring the idea of launching a free daily technology eletter edited by Sam Volkering. In order to gauge the demand for such a service we asked readers to complete a short survey. The results are in and the response is unequivocal — 94.9% of respondents said they would read the letter if we launched it.
Clearly there’s a strong demand for information and analysis on what’s happening in the tech world today and what could happen in the future. And so, to meet that demand we’ve decided to give the project a green light. We’ll give you more details over the next two weeks, including the name of the new eletter, the topics Sam will cover, and how you can subscribe to it.
Stay tuned for more details…
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