The Kidizoom is now being launched with the capability of taking pictures and video.
A rash of smartwatch unveilings and launches has suddenly started to hit the technology news headlines as electronics companies have recognized a market with a great deal of potential and that is, so far, untapped.
VTech has joined the early entrants to this sector with the Kidizoom, which is meant for kids aged 4 and up.
Even before the smartwatch has managed to truly catch on with adults, it looks like kids will be the next big focus. In the case of the Kidizoom, the price of the wearable technology device is expected to be $60 each. It appears that the these gadgets will be considerably less expensive than those that have been designed for adult wearers. This price will also likely reflect a much more limited capability.
The VTech smartwatch for kids is only the next step in a growing tradition of learning oriented technology by the brand.
The Kidizoom is meant to be a child friendly wearable technology device with a 1.4 inch color touchscreen. It will come with a number of different features, such as a built-in camera which can take both pictures and video. It also contains four different games, but that number can be increased as the device can be connected with the Learning Lodge app store from VTech. The built-in microphone can be used along with an app that gives the child the ability to record his or her voice and then alter it with any of five different audio effects.
While the options that are built into these wearables may not necessarily sound all that educational, the app store does offer a number of learning options that can be added to the device. This gadget also features a range of different functions that can be found in traditional digital watches, such as a timer and stopwatch, as well as an alarm clock. VTech also feels that the choice from among 50 different digital and analog faces will give kids wearing this smartwatch the opportunity to learn to tell time.
This hiring only adds a larger amount of certainty that Apple is indeed pouring itself into wearable tech.
The latest technology news with regards to the iWatch is now crossing over with the announcement that Nike made earlier this year that it would be downsizing its Fuelband team as it changed its focus from having been on hardware toward software, instead.
This caused many to believe that the Fuelband would soon be finished, but it opened up an opportunity for Apple.
At the same time that nobody seems to know whether or not Nike will be moving ahead with its own wearable technology, Apple appears to be snatching up the former members of the Fuelband team and many are justifiably assuming that those individuals are being added to the experts working on the so called iWatch. The latest in hiring in this field has included two of the execs that had been a part of the efforts for the fitness band, and who are likely now placing their focus on the first smartwatch from the iPhone maker.
The two new members to the assumed iWatch team include Jon Gale and Ryan Bailey formerly of Nike Fuelband.
These two experts in mobile technology is only helping to add more fuel to the very powerful fire regarding rumors of a smartwatch that the industry believes will be released by Apple as early as October of this year. As is the policy of that electronics company, no official announcements or confirmations have been made regarding the device, as they never speak to any future developments until the official unveiling.
That said, the types of announcements that Apple has made, in combination with the patents that have been purchased and the type of hiring that they have done has made it so that there is little doubt left that some form of device in the wearables category is on its way.
Gale had been a Senior Firmware Engineer on the Nike team and has now been hired by Apple as a Sensing Systems Engineer. Bailey was at Nike as a Senior Test and Validation Engineer but is now a Mechanical Design Engineer at Apple. Both are presumably working on the iWatch.
