Category: Gadgets

The business supply retailer has now announced a considerable expansion into wearables for home and office.

One of the largest internet retailers in the world, Staples, has now announced a number of considerable expansions in its Staples Connect home and office automation platform, which includes a notable wearable technology element.

In fact, Staples has become the first retailer to announce that it has integrated wearables into its platform.

Among the expansions that Staples announced for its Staples Connect was a rollout of 500 stores, brand new pricing for the platform’s Hub, and new collaborations with D-Link, Jawbone, and Microsoft. It is also integrating wearable technology into its platform, which is a first among retailers, despite the fact that this channel is rapidly growing in popularity and is gaining a great deal of attention in terms of actually selling the devices.

The Staples Connect had a limited launch last fall, but is now speeding ahead with cutting edge wearable technology support.

There will now be in-store displays added in 500 locations for the Staples Connect platform. All devices that are compatible can be purchased at the in-store kiosks as well as through the Staples.com website. Those devices include those that have the greatest industry support, as the company has partnerships with 35 existing hardware companies. These include leading brand name manufacturers such as: Radio Thermostat, GE, D-Link, First Alert, Philips, Lutron, Kwikset, Leviton, Cooper, Honeywell, Schlage, and Yale, as well as many others. All together, they bring nearly 150 different smart devices for office and home use to the market.

The executive vice president at Staples for merchandising, Mike Edwards, explained that “Staples Connect offers the best-in-class home and office automation solution, with the widest array of product and services from the most trusted brands.” He went on to say that the expansion that has gone in in-store is a part of the retailer’s overall effort to provide “our customers with the newest tech offerings and innovations.” Many are predicting that wearable technology will be the next big wave and that it will be becoming mainstream before this year comes to a close.

The tech manufacturer has seen considerable challenges in the country, but it appears to be making headway.

While Apple has struggled to take hold in mobile commerce in China, a highly desirable market, the latest figures are starting to indicate that the manufacturer is starting to find it increasingly easy to sell its iOS based devices within this most populated country in the world.

A recent report from Bloomberg has revealed that Apple is opening many new retail shops in China.

Though this has not necessarily been officially announced, the mobile commerce news has shown that Apple has been hiring a massive new crew of managers in order to be able to provide the various locations with staff. So far, it appears as though there will be six new Apple stores in the works to one day open their doors in various places across China.

The hiring to enhance this mobile commerce experience is occurring in six Chinese cities.

It is therefore assumed that there will be one Apple store placed in each of those various urban areas. The hiring is for outlets that will be located in Shenyang, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuxi, and Tianjin.

At the moment, none of those cities have an Apple retail store location, which makes it appear even more evident that any hiring that will occur there will be for a shop that will be opening its doors in the future, as it cannot be for one that is already in existence. Another indicator that has been suggesting that the stores will be coming soon is that there is another iPhone anticipated before the end of the year. In fact, the majority of the mobile technology industry is in relative agreement that it will be launched by this fall.

That said, while it is quite likely that Apple retail stores will be opening in those Chinese cities in order to take advantage of the mobile commerce opportunity of having more shops in this massively populated country once the iPhone 6 is released, that also has not been confirmed by any official sources. Equally, it would make the spread of the devices in China much easier for the country if the doors were open in time.