Category: Technology News

Smartwatch launch delayed by HTC until next year

The Taiwanese telecommunication equipment manufacturer has decided to postpone its wearable because it is not ready.

HTC revealed to Re/code last week that it has no intention of releasing a smartwatch until they can “get it right” because they do not just want to put out another wearable device like so many of the others currently on the market, they want to produce a gadget that will be something users will want.

HTC does not believe anyone has gotten this particular wearable technology right.

According to the head of HTC Creative Labs, Drew Bamford, “We think the strategy we were working on will get us there, but we want to take our time and get it right.” Bamford told Re/Code that “We honestly don’t think anyone has gotten it right.”

Bamford explained that the team behind the development of wearables at HTC is taking their time in delivering a product because they want to deliver a watch that users will want to wear every day.

It is clear that while HTC could easily launch a smartwatch powered by Android Wear, the company isn’t interested in providing consumers what is already being offered by companies like Samsung and LG.

Initially, the assumption was that HTC would launch its smartwatch this fall.

smartwatch developmentThe president of HTC America, Jason Mackenzie, said that it had been the company’s original intention to release a wearable soon, it simply just wasn’t ready.

Bamford commented that “We’ve seen a lot of general purpose wearables come to market.” He added that there isn’t a “strong reason to wear one every day.” He explained that when they bring their product to the market they want to ensure that the product will give users a “compelling reason” to want to wear it on their wrists.

Of course, it still remains to be seen if HTC will actually manage to “get it right”. Although it is quite possible that the company has something exciting and profound cooking, there is also a chance that they might not know how to best compete with the current competition in the wearable market. Only time will tell if a smartwatch from HTC will be unveiled in 2015.

Wearable technology will become a new dedicated division at Burberry

A growing number of successful American consumer companies are now looking to wearables for their future.

Some of the biggest and most celebrated businesses in the United States have now added a division of some form that is dedicated to looking into how wearable technology and other trends will affect them.

Burberry has now created its own innovation group that they have called the What If Group.

Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative and CEO at Burberry, stated that this business has assembled the What If Group in order to consider the way that tech and fashion can come together. This includes thoughts about wearable technology, such as if tech could be brought directly into a garment’s fibers or adding chips to a fashion accessory. At the time that this article was written, Bailey had not elaborated much more in terms of the details of their intentions, but a company representative shared a little bit more.

This group that is considering different possibilities for wearable technology has a range of different recruits.

Wearable Technology and Fashion - BurberryThe company rep explained that the members of the group are from all across the company. They assemble once every month in order to discuss areas in which there will be trends in retail, fashion, and technology separately or when brought together. The goal of these meetings is to be able to come up with innovative new ideas that may one day be offered to the company’s customers.

This is not the first time that the company has dabbled with wearable tech. In fact, in 2012, it attached RFID chips to some of its accessories. This way, when shoppers at the Regent Street flagship store of Burberry in London stepped near certain fitting room screens, specific content (such as some information about the materials that were used to create a certain bag, or a video that demonstrates the way in which a skirt was worn on a model that walked a fashion show runway) was displayed.

However, Bailey indicated that the company may now be looking to wearable technology more closely, examining certain devices such as the Opening Ceremony bracelet from Intel, or the “biometric” fabrics from Ralph Lauren.