Did anyone see Will.i.am's "smart" watch fail to call Cheryl Cole in the live final of The Voice? He's been dropping hints about a self-branded, wrist-mounted computer phone for weeks. Sure enough, live on the BBC on Saturday night, he spoke into a slab of black plastic on his wrist. Cue the muffled and broken sound of someone that may or may not have been Ms Cole before the call cut out completely.
Will.i.am has got a squillion dollars, is the director of innovation at Intel, attended a prestigious fashion college, and was the first artist to have a song broadcast on Mars. If he can't make a smart watch that works, what hope does anyone else have?
Things really aren't looking good. Pebble seems to have a problem making and shipping its smart watches on time, ignores complaints from customers, and a recent app update relegated the product to… telling the time.
Meanwhile, nobody seems to want a Samsung Galaxy Gear, even though they are given away free with Samsung phones and featured in Redfoo's video for "Let's Get Ridiculous". That may be because, appropriately, they look ridiculous.
The one company that is making its watches secretly smarter is Casio, whose G-Shock and Edifice timepieces have discreetly started packing Bluetooth and GPS. But even Casio aren't branding their watches as "smart".
In fact, take a look at the biggest hits at the Baselworld exhibition last week, the most important date on the watch manufacturers' calendar. All the innovation is going into powering the device and displaying information, not connecting to the internet.
The truth is that consumers are either ignoring the smart watch movement or attempting to offload their disappointing purchases (or free gifts
) while the industry focuses elsewhere.
) while the industry focuses elsewhere.
Can Will.i.am reverse this trend? Don't hold your breath. His last big venture was something called the i.am+ foto.sosho, a £300 iPhone camera accessory that disappeared from sale just months after its star-studded, champagne-fuelled launch party.
? Don't hold your breath. His last big venture was something called the i.am+ foto.sosho, a £300 iPhone camera accessory that disappeared from sale just months after its star-studded, champagne-fuelled launch party.
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