Hey There, Good Lookin’
by Ben Estes
Real Estate Counsel
Ever since Pebble set the then Kickstarter record for funding in 2012 the smartwatch has been the future of mobile technology. Now with the announcement of the Apple Watch, every major mobile technology manufacturer is in the market, including Samsung, Apple, LG and Motorola. And the market is booming. The smartwatch industry is set to earn 700 Million Dollars in 2014, which is already 5% of the watch industry, and is estimated to grow by triple digits every year.1 However, until last month, what the smartwatch industry was missing is something that could excite the casual watch enthusiast and techie alike.
Then came the Moto 360. What the Moto 360 does better than any other smartwatch, is tell time, a simple function that has been the standard for wrist wear since the 1880s. Obviously all smartwatches tell time, but the Moto 360 does it with style. It is the first smartwatch with a rounded face, which is a welcomed relief from the bulky rectangular designs that look more like the wrist calculators of the 1990s than the future of wearable tech. From the gray leather band to the seven customizable watch faces, the 360 makes for a great purchase if all it did was tell time. However, the Moto 360 creates the ultimate information environment.
Paired with Android Wear, the Moto 360 uses Google Cards and a handful of apps already compatible to share information from your phone to the watch. Many people ask what a smartwatch can do for them, and even more people wonder why you would want an extension of your phone on your wrist. The answer is simple, the ability to check updates and information on your wrist allows you to not only be more up to date, but at the same time save countless hours normally spent checking worthless updates on your phone every vibrate. With a simple flick of the wrist you can see if that buzzing is a daily deal email or social media like, or if it is an emergency message from family or client. Overall, the Moto 360 is a stylish timepiece and an efficient communicator. Just when the mobile phone industry made wearing watches obsolete, it made wearing (smart) watches the next big thing.
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/arieladams/2014/03/07/the-size-of-the-smartwatch-market-its-key-players/
Photo courtesy of KnowYourMobile.com
