Five years ago, a collective mania overtook the industry. Nobody could think of a clear reason why consumers needed an expensive "smart" watch when they already had a smartphone in their hand, pocket or bag. What value could it deliver? Even Google didn't seem sure: in its now notorious launch video, a punter used a watch simply to replicate features on their phone. But the industry convinced itself that wearables were another platform, and nobody wanted to be a sad second in this race. So the giants entered the market. Not because they wanted to, but as a hedge. Someone else might take a lead.
As we predicted in 2014, this was a solution looking for a problem. And an expensive one, at that.
Are wearable devices whose OS wakes up only when needed for smart features the answer?
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:05AM
Same with the whole iot hysteria. I built an internet connected coffee machine in the 90's (as an exercise to learn some tech (plip and slip), but then so what?
Then there was the whole x-10 networking systems that came out in the 1970's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_Wireless_Technology), neat, but ultimately something nobody used. I see a bunch of x10 clone devices advertised now and don't see how they will have a different fate.