Glasses and Watches

A fundamental difference in wearable technologies

I originally posted this over at my personal site but decided to use this opportunity as my first post on Medium as well.

I’ve read much about the wearable technology space and of course Google Glass and a supposed Apple iWatch. However, I haven’t heard anyone share thoughts on what I think is the fundamental difference between the two.

We’ve all seen enough about Google Glass to have formed our own opinion of it.

I’d argue that Glass as it is now is breakthrough but not blockbuster. The technology is remarkable but limited and at the same time too controversial and unconventional. It will most likely evolve and in doing so answer the current crop of questions such as: Will women wear it? Will there be a kid version? Will it overcome privacy woes? And, can it be made affordably? We’ll likely look back on this model as the Newton of personal displays while embracing the latest iteration of it years from now.

We’ve also been fed speculation of an Apple iWatch - a technology that many have already deemed less breakthrough, less controversial, possibly limited, but maybe even more primed to be a blockbuster success.

I’m not speculating on the viability of either device but sharing a view on how wearable technology in the glass vs. watch format is fundamentally different.

I believe that glass is a pull device. Glass’ potential benefit is that it provides access to a wealth of information that is triggered from our own commands and cues from the physical world around us. Ask for a restaurant nearby and you’ll find one. Need directions to get there and they’ll appear as if layered on top of the sights around you.

Most of its benefit, except photo/video capture and sharing, is arguably pulling in information for a new format. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting proposition and mind-blowing that this can be done in 2013. Glass’ breakthrough proof might just be that it has leapt pass the vernacular of processor speeds, resolution, memory, or any of the specs we tend to base progress upon. Glass’ biggest hurdle might just be proving that people really want this information at this level of accessibility in the first place.

The watch on the other hand, I believe, has a different course that it will lead technology down. Now of course this is all speculative but hopefully you’ll allow me some wiggle room.

Apple’s iDevice progress follows a very economical trajectory. The iPhone came first, the iPad, and then the AppleTV. Each subsequent device had the benefit of borrowing the processor from its previous incarnation thus further helping Apple reach economies of scale in production.

Apple’s greatest trick, an undoubtedly frustrating one, might just be convincing all of us to purchase the same processor three times from the same company.

Why have we done this? Simply because it has become first-world-problem necessary to have different display sizes for different scenarios. A 3-4" diagonal display for your pocket, 7-9" for the couch, and 40-60" for full on A/V entertainment.

But the iWatch could be both a logical progression and a game changer in that its not just another screen format for the same processor. It might just be the only iProcessor you’ll need as it is the one strapped to you at all times. With the help of the cloud it becomes the central brain that knows your profile of services, has access to all your things, and can push your content on to any display of your liking through AirPlay/Bluetooth.

The iWatch, like Glass, could also transform our vernacular by turning TVs into “home displays”, computers into “desktop displays”, and maybe even smartphones into “pocket displays”. Each display could allow for cameras, accelerometers, touch input, or even voice input when appropriate. All this while opening the door to new types of displays such as street, in car, bus stops, and of course wrist.

I might be way off and the first incarnation of the iWatch could look nothing like what I’ve described here; however, I believe this is the potential for iWatch and wearable technology of its kind.

So while Glass will know everything you’re doing, everyone you meet, everywhere you are and layer in whatever you may want to know, Watch takes on a different role. Watch wants to be your technology dog tag - with a small display for the basics - and the power to interact with the right display for the right occasion.

I think.