By all accounts, 2014 is the year of the wearables. At CES in Las Vegas last month, wearables stole the show with the roll-out a slew of new devices alongside updates to existing ones. Wearables are being featured prominently at Mobile World Congress, happening now in Barcelona, with both Sony and Huawei unveiling their new wearable devices on day one of the show. SXSW Interactive will jump into the wearables fray next week in Austin, with sessions dedicated to the future of wearable technology and giving a platform to early stage technology startups to pitch their wearable products. Enthusiasm for wearable technology is growing, and technological capability is growing along with it. Longevity, however, will hinge on consumer adoption.

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Martha Walz
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2. 1 From data collection to
actionable insights
Current wearable technology gives users reams of data, but is it useful?
At this point, no. We are served our data raw, and most of us are not yet
sophisticated enough for data sushi. We don’t know how to interpret it. The
technology needs to evolve to analyze the data and extrapolate information
that is useful and actionable to users, telling us, for example, that days after
we sleep poorly we tend to eat more fatty, sugary foods. Such insights can
lead to an awareness that is necessary for changing behaviors. Wearable
technology needs to move from simply quantifying the self to optimizing the
self.
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3. 2
Give real-time feedback
Wearable technology needs to encourage us to change our behaviors. Let’s
say you are under your daily goal for steps taken. Smarter technology would
recognize that and nudge you via a beep or buzz or even a text message to
get up and moving. On the other hand, if you’re burning the candle at both
ends, your wearable tech should urge you slow down. This feedback loop is
crucial in initiating behavior change.
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4. 3
Integrate with other
devices and apps
This might be a far-reaching goal due to proprietary platforms and
technologies, but it’s worth mentioning. All connected devices need to
play nice with each other because the greatest benefit will come from the
nuanced feedback a personal data cloud can supply. Data from apps such as
food trackers should blend seamlessly with wearable device apps and provide
instantaneous assessment of how your diet is going.
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5. 4
Overcome privacy concerns
Wearable device and app developers have a huge hurdle to overcome
regarding data collection. We are apprehensive about one source capturing
such a large amount of our personal data, and we don’t want that data to fall
into the wrong hands. Therefore, developers need to put safeguards in place
to ensure that our data is secure and can’t be breached.
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6. 5
Look cool
Today’s wearable technology is boxy (to put it kindly) and might not appeal
to the fashion-forward among us. Most devices are wristbands, and those
don’t appeal to everyone. Once wearable tech moves into more prominent
places—such as the face—the stakes go way up. Device makers need to take
into account users’ personal tastes and build devices with utility and design in
mind. We want devices we want to wear.
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Mobile
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