Tag: samsung wearable technology

Wearables battle to become appealing to users as paten publication grows at a striking rate.

Despite the fact that the majority of consumers still aren’t buying wearable technology, the overall patent publications associated with those devices has been rising at a rate of about 40 percent per year since 2010.

From 2010 through until the end of May of this year, there have been 41,301 patents published.

It looks as though the tech behind wearable technology is being firmly locked into place, but the one primary question is what it will take to make consumers actually open up their wallets and buy these devices. Moreover, once they have them, will they actually like the experience or will it end up being a flash in the pan fad that goes out about as quickly as it came in?

Wearable technology takes in a massive group of gadgets, form smartwatches to augmented reality glasses.

There are fitness trackers, watches, glasses, goggles, and even diapers that all fall within the wearables category and that are already on the shelves and waiting for consumers to purchase them. However, analysts insist that it remains far too early to be able to decide which among this type of gadget will manage to sway consumers to actually buy, and how they will transform this sector of the market.

As a whole, the patent publication of wearables that are integrated into all forms of accessories and clothing that can be worn, has been rising by an annual 40 percent over the last five years. That statistic was released by Lux Research, a firm based in Boston.

At the head of the patent filing game was Samsung Electronics. In second place was Qualcomm, followed by Apple Inc. in third. According to market analysts, Samsung is making a concerted effort to lead the way in a wearable tech market that will have far greater consumer appeal over coming years.

Tony Sun, a research analyst at Lux, explained the current wearable technology situation by saying that “First, moving into wearable electronics agrees with the general interest of using electronic devices to better understand oneself in a quantitative way.” He went on to point out that “Second, Samsung is a major consumer electronic device and component developer. Wearable devices, like smartwatches, are a natural fit for Samsung’s existing manufacturing capability, technology portfolio as well as customer base.”

This news was made just as the Apple Watch was first launched and as over 3,000 compatible apps flooded iTunes.

At the same time that the wearable technology spotlight had been aimed at the Apple Watch release, Samsung dropped hints and teases about its own possible upcoming smartwatch that may have a round design.

Samsung wasn’t the only company grasping for attention on that day as Google also suggested a possible new Glass release.

Though the Apple Watch smartwatch launch didn’t come with all of the explosive hype of the typical release of gadgets from that device maker, due to the preorder online selling strategy that it implemented, there was a great deal of noise in the wearable technology industry as other companies fought to draw attention to their own upcoming tech creations. As Apple’s faithful shoppers selected the devices that they would like to pick up at their stores, and as over 3,000 wearables friendly apps made it into iTunes, many other announcements were also made.

Samsung, for instance, felt that this would be a great time to tease at the appearance of a new smartwatch.

The upcoming wearables from Samsung may break with its previous designs and aim for a round screen. This would not be the first round device on the market but it would be the first one from that company and it would still place it in the minority.

Beyond that, the CEO of Luxottica revealed that when it comes to wearable technology news, it didn’t stop with Samsung. Google is also gearing up to start to show off a brand new version of its Glass augmented reality headset. It had already shut down operations on the original version of that device, but it’s now clear that the AR glasses weren’t abandoned, altogether, as hints have been repeatedly dropped over the last while about a new version that will be on its way.

The wearable technology category is starting to heat up in quite a dramatic and increasingly competitive way and while companies had previously appeared to be testing the waters with initial releases of a smartwatch, it now looks as though they are moving beyond the basics. Design and style are becoming an important factor with these wearables.