Technology and smartphones are part of our everyday lives, they have become essential to keeping track of current events, keeping in touch with friends and family and for entertainment. But as the years pass the precision and performance for smartphones have improved but the innovation for smartphone technology has slowed down greatly. So this begs the question, what is next for the technology industry?
As smartphones become more and more standardized among the general population the next technology seems to be wearables. This is a good article that points out the current sales of wearables as a product.
At the end of Q2 2016:
- Apple watch has sold 14.7 million units
- Fitbit has sold 36.7 million units
- Xiaomi Mi Band has sold 16.8 million units
- Samsung Gear has sold 7.1 million units
- Garmin has sold 6.3 million units
At the introduction of the smart watch they were extremely expensive, but as time progressed they became more affordable and integration between devices is more possible. I predict that further innovation, diversity, and integration of wearables will be developed in the future. An example might be the wearable technology for glasses such as the google glass (here is an opinionated post on the current state of the google glass). Although the google glass failed to enter and become prevalent in the market there is huge potential for it to become part of daily life in the future. Some other ideas for wearable technology might be:
- Shirts that track health, heartbeats and blood pressure
- Shoes that track steps or speed
- Contact lenses that are similar to the google glass
- Bike helmets that have maps and directions inbuilt with video recording.
- possibilities are limitless
The implications of wearable technology
As wearable technology becomes more prevalent in daily life we must also consider the implication of this technology. As stated in the link above the google glass is already being used by doctors to record procedures, access information hands-free; it is used to streamline the connection of aircraft wire harnesses and being used to help sufferers of Parkinson’s disease cope better. These new technologies could be used to ease and enhance people’s daily lives, it also could be used for education and training in fields that require extreme precision.
Something that we need to consider here is also how wearable technology will change the way we play sports as we know it. This article explains how wearable technology now is being used to extract critical data for improving sports. But just imagine that in 10 years time we might have a marathon runner that wears a shirt that is able to track their heartbeat and shoes that measure their strides so that they can optimise their speed to the minute, would sports become simply execution rather than performance on the day, and athletes pushing their absolute limits to win?
Another implication of more and more separate technologies and the integration between them is security. Even at the moment, cyber security is a pressing issue with multiple security breaches of sensitive information from large companies. Would being able to access a single piece of wearable technology compromise your sensitive information to hackers? Here is one instance where already Apple Watches have been banned from the cabinet in the UK due to their concerns for security.
As we move forward with new innovations in technologies, we should be open to the new possibilities but also be aware of the dangers and implications of technologies to come.
References
Dominiczak, P (2016), Apple Watches banned from Cabinet after ministers warned devices could be vulnerable to hacking. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/09/apple-watches-banned-from-cabinet-after-ministers-warned-devices/
How wearable technology will change sports. Retrieved from http://www.catapultsports.com/au/media/how-wearable-technology-will-change-sports/
Elgan, M (2016), Google Glass strikes back. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/article/3109502/wearables/google-glass-strikes-back.html
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