Wearables stayed in the spotlight Wednesday, a day after Apple Inc. unveiled its first smartwatch.
This time it was the turn of Intel Corp., which held its annual developers conference in San Francisco. Intel chief executive officer Brian Krzanich revealed the semiconductor company’s partnership with Fossil and introduced Greg McKelvey, chief strategy and marketing officer, who called the watch company’s consumers trendsetters who focus on fashion, style and status. In addition to the Fossil label, the $1.3 billion global brand controls a portfolio of timepieces and accessories that includes names such as Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch, Emporio Armani and Diesel.
“How do we integrate technology into our existing system?” McKelvey told the conference. “We’re taking technology in a modular way and creating a beautiful product.”
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For Fossil, timing is everything. Years ago, the company developed smartwatches with Palm PDAs on the wrist. “We noticed then that the technology wasn’t there,” he said. “Those things are now changing. We’re also seeing interest from our core trendsetting consumer. It’s about smart fashion and accessories that are alive based on technology.
“The size of the business is an opportunity. On a unit basis, only one out of five watches sold are ours,” he said, adding that Fossil wants to capture the business of the other four watches.
“This is all about a partner,” McKelvey added. “Fashion tech is impossible to do on your own. Intel is bringing its unique technology capabilities.”
Krzanich referred to Intel’s partnership with Opening Ceremony, saying, “We were building a [bracelet] with cell phone capability. It’s not tethered and has its own operating system that links to your cell phone and gets all your texts and Twitter feeds. We went and got a great partner in Opening Ceremony. This is something everybody wants to wear independent of the technology inside.”
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The Intel Edison is a low-cost general-purpose computer platform that lowers the barriers of entry in the wearables world and Internet of Things. A preview of Edison-powered prototype devices included a 3-D printed interactive garment. A mind-controlled dress, called Synapse, powered by Edison, was created by Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht.
Intel earlier this year acquired Basis Science, which creates wearable device technologies for health and wellness applications. Basis Science, one of the leaders in health tracking for wearable devices, manufactures the Basis band health tracker and accounts for around 7 percent of that market. A preview of the Basis Peak, the next generation of bands, features continuous heart rate and other sensors for fitness and sleep tracking. It’s also lighter and thinner with improved battery life. Basis Peak will launch in November; its price has yet to be released. The Basis health tracker carbon steel edition is $149 at the Basis online store.
In the fourth quarter, Intel will introduce its first software development kit and API software for wearable devices. Developers building fitness and wellness applications for iOS and Android will be able to leverage Intel’s heart-rate sensing technology, which was used in the recently announced SMS Audio BioSport headphones powered by Intel.
Krzanich also unveiled the Analytics for Wearables, or A-Wear, a developer program that will accelerate development and deployment of new wearable applications with data-driven intelligence. Developers of Intel wearables will be able to use the A-Wear program free of charge, he said.
After bubbling along for several years, the wearables sector has hit full boil in the last six weeks as companies and celebrities from Ralph Lauren Corp. to Swatch Group to Will.i.am have unveiled wearable products, or plans to launch them. The size of the wearables market is difficult to pinpoint. The NPD Group estimates that wearables racked up $475 million in sales for the last 12 months, based on the two categories it follows — smartwatches and full-body activity trackers.
“I expect the market to double in size over the next 12 months given the interest from consumers and the number of companies entering the space,” said Ben Arnold, a senior analyst at NPD. “Big venture capital funds are seeing the potential for the appeal of these products and for these technologies at some time to become indispensable to people. They’re trying to tap into that.”
Credit Suisse IT Hardware analyst Kulbinder Garcha predicted that the market for wearable technology will increase tenfold to as much as $50 billion over the next three to five years.
Announcements of wearable tech partnerships were everywhere this week, from the New York runways to Cupertino, California, where Apple’s introduction of its new smartwatch reverberated in the fashion community.
Diesel Black Gold sent its interpretation of the Samsung Gear S down the runway with a series of accessories that incorporated the smart computer, phone and fitness tracker for the wrist. Diesel used its signature leather and worked in hardware to create objects that were in sync with the attitude of the brand, which this season was inspired by tough rockabilly heroines.
Motorola’s round, flat Moto 360 appeared on the runway of Rodarte. The smartwatch, which is compatible with Android phones, can detect heart rate, has voice commands, delivers e-mails and texts, has calendar prompts and gives directions. The makers of the Moto 360 offered to send editors the watch so they could flaunt it during fashion week. “The device will pair any smartphone running Android 4.3 or higher. Do you need an Android to pair with? Happy to send you one!” they said.
The Opening Ceremony spring fashion show was not without a requisite tech toy. A collaboration with Intel, MICA, or My Intelligent Communication Accessory, consists of a pair of snakeskin smart bracelets with semiprecious stones that send alerts and receive notifications. They were shown on the Opening Ceremony runway. Meanwhile, Rebecca Minkoff, who partnered with Case-Mate, a mobile accessories firm, displayed on her runway two wearable devices, a chain-link studded bracelet that alerts users to calls and texts via Bluetooth, and a black leather bracelet that doubles as a USB charging station.