Smart glasses to be most popular wearables.One in five Aussies will be wearing tech by August, with smart glasses the wearable “champion” set to gain mainstream acceptance, this year.
That’s according to Deloitte Australia’s Tech trends 2014 report, which predicts on-body computing devices will be big business for corporations, and change the way work is done. Deloitte predicts 10 million that smart glasses, fitness bands, watches will be sold in 2014, in a market worth $3 billion.
“In Australia alone we anticipate 20% of 17-75 year olds will own a wearable by August this year,” says Robert Hillard Deloitte Consulting’s Managing Partner, Technology.
“It is an interesting trend, but wearables will not replace smartphones as the majority of wearable devices require smartphone tethering for connectivity and GPS.
Google Glass, not yet widely available, is set for release this year although still has some issues surrounding privacy.
Smart fitness bands, like Fitbit and Samsung Gear Fit “will enjoy reasonable demand but are unlikely to become mainstream,” the report predicts.
This prediction could spell bad news for tech giants like Jawbone, LG, HTC, all of who are investing millions into developing smart watches, fitness bands, as wearable tech is viewed as the next big thing in tech. Smart watches, which let you see incoming texts and emails, don’t offer the convenience of line-of-sight viewing, says Deloitte.
Meanwhile, other wearables including headphones with sensors and smart badges, will likely remain “niche” markets.
The most common usage of smart glasses is likely to be screen-based application that frees up user’s hands to multitask like never before.
The potential for glasses is tremendous due to hands-free, heads-up technology, which will reshape how work will be done. Wearables introduce technology to previously prohibitive scenarios where safety, logistics, constrained the usage of computers and smartphones.
“One of the reasons why devices impact the eyes is due to eyes being the most dependent of all of the senses on training, ” says Hillard.
“While the first applications are designed to simply present a screen in your main field of view, it can be expected that the next generation will require the user to learn how to apply their peripheral vision in new and unexpected ways.”
A recent trial of Google Glass by police in a US town saw an 80% drop in false accusations of police brutality, and a drop in cases of excessive use of force by police.
