NEW YORK, July 23 — A job listing suggests a future direction for Motorola and indicates that its products will be aimed at mass markets.
The job listing, for a senior director of industrial design — wearables, seeks a candidate who can take responsibility for Motorola Mobility’s path into wearable technology and who will ensure that the company’s ideas and innovative approach actually align with what consumers desire.
Specifically the ad highlights the importance the company believes that wearable technology will play in the future and the crucial nature of being in that market and being highly competitive when it truly goes mainstream.
The posting also outlines that the X Phone, Motorola Mobility’s first device developed in partnership with Google since the search giant became its owner, is just the start. Motorola Mobility’s wearable technology roadmap will be interwoven with that of Google.
A number of the world’s biggest and most influential tech companies, from Apple and its iWatch to Google, Samsung, LG, Acer, Intel, Dell and Microsoft, have all been linked either officially or off the record with an entry into the wearable technology and, in particular, the smartwatch market before the end of 2013.
The latest figures from analytics firm Canalys, published on July 17, suggest that the market for wrist-worn computers is about to go stratospheric. The market is expected to grow by 900 per cent over the next 12 months, resulting in over five million smartwatches finding their way on to consumers’ wrists by the end of 2014.
Canalys’ figures show that 330,000 smartwatches shipped globally in 2012 and that by the end of 2013 this number will have jumped to 500,000, thanks in part to established smartwatch models from Sony but mostly thanks to the way in which the Kickstarter-backed Pebble Watch has managed to grab headlines, capture the public’s imagination and clock up over 270,000 pre orders ahead of its official retail release.
“Smartwatches will be the most important new product category in consumer electronics since the iPad defined the market for tablets,” said Chris Jones, Canalys VP and principal analyst. “Software platforms tied to smartwatches will also be a tremendous opportunity for developers to write apps in categories such as health and wellness or sports and fitness.”
Rumours which surfaced on Friday point to accurate health and well-being monitoring as the primary uses for Apple’s much rumoured iWatch — the company has been actively hiring healthcare sensor experts and other biometrics professionals in recent months according to a report by 9to5Mac.
Motorola’s listing makes no indication about whether its devices will be focused on well-being or if they will serve as support for other devices such as tablets and smartphones. — AFP-Relaxnews
