Replacing mobile phones in the near future - A possibility?

Imagine a world where you look up at the sky and predict the weather for the rest of the day or identify the dish the person next to you is eating by just looking at it. This is possible by the emerging technology of wearable devices. The limitations of Google’s flagship GLASS are that it supports only 7 primary features till date and has to be connected to the smart phone or Wi-Fi to be operational. Combining this with a wearable device such as a gesture ring may have numerous applications.

The current issue for wearable technology such as Google Glass is that they are finding it difficult to come up with a satisfying value proposition. As the world is moving towards one platform, entrepreneurs around the globe are trying to amalgamate all the technologies into one single device. A gesture ring can be connected to other devices, such as televisions and microwave, through its internal hotspot as well as through the internet, unlike the prototype by Google. The aim is to offer an alternative to mobile phone, rather than another device. Since it is heavily software based and light weight, it will cost much less for a regular customer. According to an article by Daily Mail, an average user checks a smart phone 110 times a day. The main problem which arises from this is that people are distracted while driving and crossing the roads. A fully functional wearable tech is the key to solving this issue. Using a gesture ring eliminates the need for touching the eye wear. The various applications can be accessed by simply swiping the ring with your thumb finger. The eye wear also gives an optimum screen view size which eliminates the need to carry large phones in your pocket.

Since there is heavy dependency and high utility associated with the smart phone, the eye-wear along with the gesture ring would need to promote the change in the basis of competition, convenience replacing utility and wearable replacing hand-held devices. Marketing should revolve around the fact that wearable tech is much more convenient than hand-held. This product basically targets all the smart phone users around the globe. The various designs and features could be customized according to age groups. Since it is a brand new technology, users can be given prototypes with basic features so that they can upgrade to the original product after thoroughly testing it. The main channels to reach the customers are through the online application store, e-commerce and physical stores.

The main activities involved for this project is to form a community of developers who can make applications suited for this device, which gives better functionality than the apps in the mobile market. Continuous brain storming sessions for developing unique apps is required during the growing phase. The key partners will be the manufacturer and the developer’s community. One more obvious partner would be the optician community for the added feature of powered lenses. A tie up with the music and television networks can give an edge over the existing smart phone applications. People would prefer to have all of this under one umbrella, and could be willing to pay one check for all these services.

The cost structure includes a one-time investment for both the gadgets along with additional costs for optional features, which is proving to be a very successful business model as well. Since everything is on the go, cloud storage is essential. Bringing together internet and all the in-app purchases under one tab will help the customers to better use the technology.

With technology at its highest peak along with an enthusiastic market, replacing the mobile phone with a sleek and high utility glass and ring could be the way to go, well until we have the technology to replace the glass with high-tech contact lenses.