Unobtrusive wearable technology

Wearable technology is on the rise and 2015 is likely to be a big year for it with the release of the Apple Watch which is expected to be released early next year.

However, wearable technology hasn’t really made a huge impact in the gadget market yet, most likely due to the unimpressive specs and more importantly their lack of visual appeal.

But Gartner, an information technology research and advisory firm, has predicted in their 2015 Consumer Devices report that 30% of smart wearables will be unobtrusive to the eye by 2017.

This means, unlike the next generation of wearable technology coming in the forms of watches (Apple Watch) or glass (Google Glass) that are stand out quite a bit, the future of wearable technology will be much more discreet or even invisible to onlookers.

Gartner’s research director, Annette Zimmermann said,

“Already, there are some interesting developments at the prototype stage that could pave the way for consumer wearables to blend seamlessly into their surroundings.”

“Smart contact lenses are one type in development. Another interesting wearable that is emerging is smart jewellery.”

“There are around a dozen crowdfunded projects competing right now in this area, with sensors built into jewellery for communication alerts and emergency alarms.”

With this in mind, wearable technology companies are already working towards making these devices more inconspicuous by incorporating Bluetooth and hidden sensors and camouflaging them subtly into clothing items such as jewellery. 

Gartner goes further, predicting that over 25 million head-mounted displays (such as Google Glass) will be sold by 2018. However they note that the manufacturers of these head-mounted displays will need to overcome software issues and privacy concern which have arisen from these devices.

So according to industry experts, wearable technology is not only on the rise but also going invisible…