Tag: wearables

Wearable technology promotions continue by smartphone makers

Demand continues to rise for wearables and it appears to be reaching every corner of the world.

The wearable technology fad has not only been making its way through developed markets, but it is also spreading through developing nations, as well, such as in the largest economy of Africa, Nigeria.

Phone manufacturers in that company are currently pushing a range of different wearables to boost their revenues.

These companies are focusing on their promotions of items that range from smartwatches to smart glasses as well as fitness bands and other electronic accessories. The hope is to increase revenues as well as to take hold of a larger market share. Followers of the market feel that demand is rising as smartphone penetration reaches an uppermost point and as the integration of wearable technology gadgets with those mobile devices boosts their functionality.

The enhanced experience has allowed the demand for wearable technology to experience a considerable growth.

Wearable Technology - NigeriaFigures from Technology Distributors (TD) show that more than 10 million smart devices that come to a value of more than $1 billion were sold in Nigeria last year, alone. That said, market followers have feel that the upcoming wave of devices to be sold within the mobile industry is likely to be within the wearables category.

Research firm Deliotte forecasted that fitness bands, smartwatches, and smart glasses would break the $3 billion mark this year, after having sold approximately 10 million units. Some of the giants within this industry, such as Samsung, Google, Sony, Huawei, and Nokia – the top sellers in Nigeria – have already started to reap the benefits of this considerable potential in revenue. Many of these companies have been sending an increasing number of wearable tech devices into Nigeria.

However, they are not alone. Smaller boutique manufacturers have also been hoping to carve out their own little slices of the pie as they step into this space and aim to obtain a healthy portion of the market share, bringing in greater revenues.

The wearable technology category of mobile as a whole has the potential to bring about considerable changes to the global tech industry. It will be an important sector to watch in terms of trends and direction over coming months and years.

Google Glass is now on its way to Canada

The company has confirmed that the wearable technology is headed north of the border, following new e-labeling laws.

Canada has now passed a law that has stated that high-tech devices that have screens that are non-removable – such as in the case of Google Glass – are no longer required to use a physical label for information such as their serial numbers, as they are now permitted to use an e-label, instead.

This change in Canadian law says that smartphones and wearable technology can now use electronic labeling.

That difference is quite important to the ability to bring new types of high tech devices, such as Google Glass, certain smartwatches, and other forms of wearable technology, to Canada, provided that they are capable of showing e-labels on displays that cannot be removed from the device. The labeling laws in the country, which previously required these mobile devices to don physical labels of serial numbers and other information, was making it prohibitively difficult

Industry Canada made this announcement in a recent press release, welcoming Google Glass and Apple Watch.

Google Glass coming to CanadaThe news release said that these labeling regulations are “opening Canada’s markets to the latest wireless wearable devices such as Google Glass and Apple Watch.” The old laws stated that all electronic, radio, and terminal equipment devices needed to show serial or model ID numbers, registration numbers, and certification numbers that were printed directly onto the device, itself, or had to be attached with a sticker.

This made it difficult – or impossible – for certain electronic and mobile devices that were manufactured in other parts of the world to be able to enter the Canadian markets. Now, the regulations have been changed and have become effective, immediately. They state that high tech gadgets that have non-removable display screens can provide that information by way of an e-label, instead of a physical printing or sticker.

The types of devices that will now be able to carry an e-label are smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, wearable glucose monitors and – once it arrives – Google Glass, Apple Watch and other forms of wearable technology with a non-removable screen. Industry Canada also pointed out that electronic labels will be able to provide additional information that physical labels cannot include due to space restrictions, such as warranty information. Moreover, remote updates to correct inaccuracies are also possible with these e-labels.