(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) If some time in the near future you notice someone wearing a peculiar watch geeky glasses or talking to their jacket take a closer look.
There’s a good chance it’s a piece of wearable technology.
Gadgets that track your health and fitness monitor your productivity take photos and videos are increasingly seen as the next generation wardrobe.
And if you’re not wearing one yet don’t worry you haven’t been left behind; these gadgets haven’t exactly gone mainstream.
But they could be about to.
the ultimate tech trend setter is coming to the wearables party.
And that’s the point – 2015 (so we’re told) will be the year wearable tech really takes off.
The debut of Watch with its tentative release date of sometime ‘early next year’ is whipping the market into a frenzy.
Love or hate the tech giant it's hard to deny that it makes a splash when it steps into a market.
About 19 million wearable fitness devices are in use worldwide this year Juniper Research reckons and the launch of Watch and numerous other products will help that number nearly to triple by 2018.
In the UK alone thanks to the wearables market is set to double in 2015 according to new research from Kantar Media’s syndicated study Futureproof.
Wearable devices appear to be tech's next big bet as smartphone and tablet sales decelerate.
And just as smartphones and tablets made the wearables era could do the same to a new generation of tech companies.
Camden-based Fitbug () has already been a beneficiary.
The AIM-listed firm’s exercise trackers which use apps to monitor daily routines have been stocked by US retail chain Target across 1800 stores.
UK supermarket () also started selling the products in November in time for the Christmas shopping period and New Year health kicks.
Shares in the firm have soared to 9p after having traded below a penny in mid-October.
Investors backed the firm this month helping it raise £3.5mln to scale up the sales and marketing push for both its Orb and the Kiqplan products.
Paul Landau Fitbug founder and chief executive said 2015 will be a year of great opportunity.
"We are very focused on scaling up our future growth to meet accelerating demand for wearable technology and complementary products” he said.
But trying to invest in the next isn’t always the best way to part with your cash.
Another way to invest in wearable technology is to look at the companies supplying the components – the screens and microchips.
As wearables have different capability profiles battery life and processing paradigms chip developers are beginning to focus their attention on developing tailored solutions.
Imagination Technologies () reported growing volume in its wearables segment when it released its half-year results earlier this month.
Many wearables are re-using smartphone chips which Imagination designs and licences.
But this has created issues with power consumption and battery life.
“We’ve been thinking carefully about how to create the next wave of chipsets for every category of wearable device” said Tony King-Smith executive vice president – marketing technology division at Imagination Technologies.
“Optimising for wearables means focusing on a different set of requirements based on ultra-low power consumption and reduced area.”
Then it becomes a question of data.
Not only can wearables capture confidential data but they can also store it transfer it and distribute it.
It has been predicted that the vast majority of future users will be behind the scenes employees in warehouses on manufacturing lines in the field and in construction.
One employee of an IT company recently created 30GB of data per-week from three wearable devices.
Scaled across an organisation this is clearly a huge amount of information that needs to be captured stored and analysed.
For cloud provider Iomart () data from wearable tech items will become a marketing ‘holy grail’.
“We’re predicting a massive growth in storage needs” said Iomart’s Phil Worms.
The problem is most organisations lack an IT infrastructure that could take advantage of the data being collected and analysed.
“Legacy systems are generally built to accept keyed data but most wearables don’t have keyboard inputs” said Worms.
“Instead they rely on voice image or touch input that doesn’t translate to the current infrastructure.
Increasingly makers of smart wearables are thinking about ways to turn that biometric information into money-making services.
Data is only as valuable as what you can do with it.
A fitness tracker churning out all kinds of health wellness and fitness data provides value only if insurers’ doctors can see that data and alter care plans.
“This will be the next game changer” added Iomart’s Worms. “Wearable Technology in all forms is coming and it will be here to stay.
“It’s just a question of how businesses embrace it and use it to benefit clients customers and employees.”
"18 months ago the word wearables wasn't used a great deal. Now it's a term which will stick around” said Fitbug founder Landau.
"Awareness and understanding of the category and associated accessories is only going to improve.
“This is good news for us and for the sector.”
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