Fossil to acquire Misfit to boost capability in wearables

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The Fossil Group has agreed to acquire wearable player Misfit with a view to expand its product range and cater to demand for wearables. The purchase price of $260 million (£171.4m) will be funded via cash and bank debt.

Sonny Vu, founder and chief executive officer of Misfit, will the join the Fossil Group as president and chief technology officer of connected devices, while also serving on the company’s executive leadership team.

The acquisition will allow Fossil to...

By Wearable Tech, 19 November 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Fitness.

Wrist-based trackers to power growth in fitness wearables

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Juniper Research has released a report that projects hardware revenues generated from the fitness wearables sector to nearly triple from an estimated $3.3 billion (GBP 2.2 billion) in 2015 to $10bn (GBP 6.6bn) by 2020, mainly on account of sales of wrist-based trackers.

Fitness currently outstrips fashion as the key purchase driver among wearable consumers. More than 70% of those weighing the purchase of a wearable are looking to use a fitness device. As a result, the current demand...

By Wearable Tech, 18 November 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Fitness, Health & Wellness.

FingerAngle revolutionises wearable interactions

(Image Credit: Qeexo)

Apple can detect pressure on their latest iPhones and smartwatch due to 3D Touch and Force Touch, but that requires new hardware. A new algorithm developed by Qeexo called FingerAngle could revolutionise how we interact with our wearable devices, just through a software update. 

FingerAngle detects at which angle the user is placing their finger, and respond in unique ways as the finger is turned. Whilst on current smartwatches you...

By Ryan Daws, 16 November 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Gaming, Research, Smartwatches, UI.

Apple races into overwhelming smartwatch sales lead as holidays draw near

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Apple has shipped approximately seven million smartwatches in the two quarters since the launch of the Apple Watch, a figure that surpasses the combined shipments of all other players over the past five quarters, according to Canalys. Additionally, the iPhone maker was the only vendor that registered sales of over 300,000 units in the third quarter of 2015.

Apple’s sales in the Q4 holiday quarter will be scrutinised as the Cupertino-based tech giant is considered a bellwether for...

By Wearable Tech, 10 November 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Smartwatches.

Review: Beat the winter blues with Re-Timer

(Image Credit: Re-Timer)

Re-Timer is a pair of glasses designed in Australia which uses light therapy to alter your circadian rhythm, or "body clock" as it's often known. One season in particular causes havoc with our natural sleep cycle and can affect our mental state, winter. 

Many people, including me, suffer from something called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) whereby the short hours of daylight – combined with dark mornings and evenings –...

By Ryan Daws, 04 November 2015, 2 comments. Categories: Devices, Health & Wellness, iOS.

Smartwatch awareness continues to soar with Apple Watch

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New research by CCS Insight has found that the wearables market has seen rapid growth in the past 12 months thanks to heightened awareness and improved products.

The study surveyed 3,000 consumers in China, the US and the UK, looking at their perception of wearable technology, awareness, ownership and usage patterns.

Consumer awareness of smartwatches has risen by ten percentage points, but wearables still lack mass appeal, with many owners abandoning their gadgets quickly after they...

By Wearable Tech, 30 October 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, iOS, Smartwatches.

New MasterCard program facilitates secure payments from any connected device

Picture credit: "MasterCard credit card", by "Hakan Dahlstrom", used under CC BY / Modified from original

It goes without saying that the Internet of Things is set to revolutionise the manner in which consumers interact and transact; now, MasterCard is now looking to make its mark in the IoT with a new program that is set to facilitate payments from consumer-owned connected...

By Wearable Tech, 27 October 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Mobile Wallet, Payments.

Apple tops wearable charts whilst fitness wearables prove most popular use case

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It has the kind of brand power other companies envy - and now Apple has topped the charts to be voted the “coolest wearables brand” even for those consumers who say they are dedicated to Android.

The conclusion is from a survey of 2000 smartphone users in the US and the UK about their use and attitudes towards wearable technology by Juniper Research. The study ranks Apple top, followed by Samsung and Google respectively. It showed that the market is moving to a brand duopoly...

By Liz Morrell, 26 October 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Brands, Devices, Smartwatches.

Samsung, LG hope to solve wearable battery issues with innovative designs

(Image Credit: Pascal)

Most people with a current smartwatch know battery life is a problem, especially coming from mechanical timepieces which last years without needing a replacement. Even in smartphones, which have a lot more space to pack-in a larger battery, manufacturers struggle to get devices to last even a couple of days. 

The size constraints presented by most wearable devices – not just smartwatches –...

By Ryan Daws, 26 October 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Research, Smartwatches.