Just how many wearables might we wear?

2014

I was just looking at a Fast Company article on the new Ditto – a device with the form factor perhaps of a tie clip, that buzzes, kind of in synch with your phone. My first thought was – yet another! How many such devices will there be a place for on our persons?

wearables

I for one cannot imagine not only the proliferation of devices, but more importantly the challenge of managing them physically and integrating them functionally.

I am inclined to think that this has to be a platform play (that is not a new idea!). The eventual winners will be integration platforms that anchor application and sensor ecosystems.

While early versions work with phones and other devices, we should see some form of co-evolution between for example the phone and the wearable platform device – some functions moving from the phone to the device and vice-versa over time.

I have to wonder though, if that end-state vision would discourage entrepreneurs in the field today and those who continue to introduce new devices from venturing into this field. Is the platform a foregone conclusion – or is the future of the wearable as a device on the body still open?

I will allow for many possibilities since we are still fairly early in the evolution of the idea.