Andreas and I had the opportunity to give a talk about wearables at the Internet Briefing in Zürich at the beginning of october. After the introduction about wearables in general, smartwatches and a variety of other smart products, we explained what Android Wear is, how the platform works and if you should adapt your app for wearables. The presentation was followed by an interesting discussion between all participants. Questions and answers about business opportunities, personal experiences and current projects were the main topics.
Let me wrap up what we presented and what the discussion concluded among the participants.
Introduction to Wearable Technology
In the last years a lot of tech companies have started combining tiny electronic components with all kinds of already existing or new products. These intelligent products measure, communicate, and even lead humans. Surely you already know Google Glass, a variety of fitness trackers and smartwatches. Connected with your phone or the web, they track positions, measure movements, send and receive a big amount and variety of data.
This current development is changing our expectations and the way we interact with our environment. Increasingly integrated in our daily lives, technology is gaining power by turning almost invisible. We could almost talk about humanization of technology. But wearable technology actually has been around for centuries. In the 17th century people in China used to wear abacus bracelets in order to calculate directly on their wrists. The Hamilton Watch “The Pulsar” reuses the same concept. It was the first calculator watch, developed in 1975. As long as humans have lived they have adapted technology to their needs. Check out our presentation slides to learn more about the wearable history.
What is happening on the market
Smartwatches put themselves in charge to track the health of the carrier and to provide him with context relevant information at the moment when he needs them. So, this means that the watch won't just tell you that it is 2 o clock, but “It is 2 o'clock and time to take the train to Zürich. It would be good for you to walk to the train station so you can burn some calories.”
While smartwatches are one of the the first intelligent wearables to enter the consumer market they will definitely not be the last. Innovative products like smart lenses for diabetics which measure the blood sugar level as well as smart pills which measure body temperature, heartbeat and breathing rhythm are being developed and tested at the moment. Smart clothing, jewelry and shoes are additional products that already hit the market as well and the offers are growing every day.
Experts predict a strong increase in turnover on the wearable market for the next years. Until the end of 2014 a turnover of 4 Billion Euro are expected and even 9 Billion until 2018.
Android Wear Platform
The platform enables developers to build their own wearable applications based on the existing Android SDK. The watches are an extension of Android smartphones and work together. The watch connects with the smartphone via Bluetooth. You can open apps on your smartphone via your watch and vice versa. The platform is available to everyone and offers a lot of potential: it opens possibilities to connect together smartphones, watches and other devices like Google Glass, Android TV or Android Auto.
Liip's first wearable app for Android Wear is out now
We had the chance to obtain one of the first smartwatches which run on Android Wear. We received the Samsung Gear Live almost immediately after its release and started working on different projects. One project that we just released is the Liip Pomodoro App. Pomodoro is a popular time management technique and so many of us love it. It suggests to work in 25 minutes working cycles and to take 5 minute pauses.
By wearing a Google smartwatch and starting the Liip Pomodoro wearable app it helps you to focus on your tasks and reminds you to take breaks by vibrating and changing its design. Download now the Liip Pomodoro Wearable App.
We decided to develop a mobile app and then to extend it by creating the corresponding wear app. Both apps communicate together to synchronize the current time and cycle. If the watch is not connected to the mobile, the Pomodoro app can work also in standalone mode. The project was a good use case to experiment the different challenges when making two devices communicate together: having delay when trying to synchronize data, choosing the right communication strategy (e.g. master / slave model), finding a way to save battery life even if it sends many messages.
Developing for Android Wear
If you want to have an app on a smartwatch there are two different ways to get your app ready for wearables:
One quick and easy way is to extend your app with wearable notifications. If your existing app is using notification, those notification will be directly displayed on your watch. On this base it is possible to add additional action buttons and customize the notifications.
The other way is to develop a standalone wearable app which runs directly on your smartwatch and uses its hardware. In this case you will gain the freedom to define unique usability, design and additional functions. Obviously the time needed to develop a standalone app is higher than just notifications. Nonetheless a big amount of standard Android APIs can be used for this.
Should I adapt my app for wearables?
If the wearable app adds a value to you customer, then yes, go for it. From the marketing point of view you can create an extra touchpoint for the user with your brand. Maybe you want to create some buzz since smartwatches are still new on the market. Wearable apps are very useful for notifications, quick and small actions and for tasks where you need one or both hands. It should provide context relevant information which are visible at a glance.
Conclusion
During the open discussion at the end of our presentation, there was positive and also critical exchange. Battery life of the watch was a big issue, privacy of personal data or the fact that you receive notifications closer by vibrating feels more personal and direct. It can be positive but also disturbing at the same time. It is practical to quickly getting things done without looking at your smartphone. Responding to messages with only one tap and possibility of voice messaging is great. My personal positive experience was, that I didn't have to look on my smartphone anymore because I was informed on my wrist already about the most important things at a glance.
Check out our presentation slides about Wearables and Android Wear Platform.