First Smartphones, Now It’s Smart Watches

FOOTLOOSE AND…

Since the incredible smartphone has pretty much taken over the technological world these days, alert marketers are seeking new worlds to conquer. Enter the wrist watch, now being poked, prodded and peeled to the core as ultra smart designers seek new opportunities to lighten our pocketbooks.

Many of the world’s largest and most prestigious companies like Sony, Nike and Apple, plus a plethora of start up whizzes, are now working on smart watches. Hopefully the resultant products will integrate magically with the smartphone to enhance and help (and control) every part of our lives. Sony already has released a smart watch, a 2-inch-square screen that displays e-mails and Twitter posts, plus other text, all from an Android smartphone.

Then there is Nike Fuel, a black band with colored lights, which measures the daily energy you exert in addition to telling the time. Lesser known Pebble is a remarkable new entry that can play music as well as display text, tell the weather and process much more information from a smart phone.

A key for those designers, now hard at work, is to find a strong balance between fashion and technology. Since the wrist watch has also come to be seen as a fashion statement, it presents visual problems not usually associated with the inside pocket–hugging smart phone. As for me, I will still be delighted on my next birthday if you send along a Rolex.