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Wearable technology line is growing at Best Buy

Julie Campbell | June 23, 2014

This makes the electronics giants a massive player in the wearables sector of mobile tech.

Best Buy has recently announced that it is expanding its line of wearable technology products and as a part of the marketing campaign for this effort, it has invited consumers to visit the stores to be able to check out the features of the new Pebble Steel smartwatch.

This makes the retailer the only store that has given consumers this wearable tech opportunity.

The Pebble Steel is the latest in the line of smartwatch devices from the brand, which has taken the wearable technology industry by storm through its massive popularity, despite the fact that it is made by a relatively small startup that is up against massive competition from electronics giants such as Samsung and Sony. The company has managed to create a considerable and highly loyal user base.

This wearable technology device syncs with both iOS and Android based devices.

Werable Technology - Best Buy This smartwatch is the latest generation of the original Pebble. That first device is still available at Best Buy and is being sold in Arctic White for $149.99. The Steel, however, is designed to be more elegant and sturdy than the sportier original. Though it is designed on the same hardware platform, it doubles the memory of the original device, which was 64KB. It is currently priced at $229 in the store (though the suggested retail price is $249.

The redesign and upgrades in the Steel were a direct response to some of the issues that consumers had brought to the attention of the company. The founder of Pebble, Eric Migicovsky, said that “We noticed a lot of people saying they wouldn’t put it on their wrist when wearing a suit, in more dressed up situations, or even saying they liked it but the look wasn’t what they wanted.”

The new wearable technology watch will be only one of the many items that Best Buy intends to offer among its selection of wearables. Customers will be able to find the smartwatch in store, as well as online at the company’s new site for wearable tech. This includes other smartwatches, as well as fitness trackers and pedometers, action cameras, and other similar mobile devices.

Smartwatch potential from Microsoft could create serious competition

Julie Campbell | June 20, 2014

Although the wearable technology hasn’t been confirmed by the tech giant, it could be a meaningful play.

If rumors are correct, then Microsoft will be the next giant to enter into the smartwatch marketplace, with the Surface Watch to be released at some point, likely this year.

The technology news to watch will be the importance of this play in the overall market.

At the moment, there are already a large number of smartwatch devices that have made their way into the market, and there is more than a handful ready to launch before the end of the summer. This can make it very challenging for any single device to stand out and for later additions to carve their way into an already crowded ecosystem. That said, among this considerable crowd of devices, it seems to have been missed that there are very few apps for wearables, which makes it difficult to build a solid appeal for mainstream customers.

Without the apps, it is challenging to show consumers that a smartwatch is worth the added expense.

Smartwatch - Microsoft A recent BI Intelligence report suggested that the entire wearables app ecosystem is experiencing some significant fragmentation. The cause of this problem is that every new device that is added to the marketplace runs on a platform that is shared by very few others. As of yet, there is little standard in the experience provided by smart gadgets.

Without a dominant operating system or two, or three, it makes it difficult for mobile app developers to come up with a pool of applications that is sizeable enough to make it worthwhile for the average consumer to drop a few hundred dollars on a device that is essentially a nifty accessory to go with his or her smartphone and/or tablet.

That said, BI Intelligence pointed out that Microsoft may be able to stand out from among much of its competition by providing a smartwatch that is not limited in that way. Instead, it could provide cross-platform functionality so that it would function with both Android and iOS platforms as well as with the Xbox One and with desktop PCs.