Did you notice how quickly smartphones and tablets have been relegated to the realm of the ordinary? Yesterday, Google announced the developer preview program for Android Wear, their OS for smartwatches.  And along with that, they talked of an ecosystem supporting Wear–the likes of Intel, Samsung, LG, and Fossil that will now produce smartwatches.  A short while ago, Google also launched their Google Glass Developer Program–yes, those nerdy glasses that will deliver information to our very eyes.  These two newer devices are ushering in the era of wearables, and a new wave of mobile computing.

So, the question is about how well these newer devices will be adopted.  There are many skeptics who believe that Glass will not take off.  The concern is that people will not want to be seen with those glasses.  A more serious concern is about privacy–that for example, someone can take your picture without you having any clue.  As far as smartwatches are concerned, do we really need a watch that does things your smartphone already does?  The answer is that both these wearables have their place.

Some people are already misusing their smartphones–so, Glass does not really add any significant new element of privacy risk. On the other hand, in some situations, it helps to get notifications and messages for example delivered to your eyes without having to look down at a phone.  It would be very handy for a dinner where one could read urgent and important information without appearing rude.  I think the keywords are urgent and important.

I have much greater faith in smartwatches taking off.  People are used to wearing watches, and a smartwatch could be a fashion statement and a status symbol.  Remember the Roger Federer and Rolex ads? So, as applications are built for the smartwatch like health monitoring, notification/message delivery, they will become more and more popular.

It seems that the next few years will even be more exciting and bring more innovation.  You can rest assured that Unvired will keep abreast of these trends, and build some cool applications for wearables.