Almost every mobile manufacturer has shown at least some interest within the wearables industry. Contrary to popular belief, however, smartwatches and wearable technology isn’t a new concept.
Technically, Bluetooth headsets are a kind of wearable which were around since the year 2000. And although most wouldn’t consider them “smart” by today’s standards, the first Bluetooth-enabled watches date back to 2006. Even earlier, “computer watches” from Casio and Seiko’s RC series date back towards the 1980s.
But the wearable category we know so well today truly kick-started back in late 2009 when the photographs of the so-called BlackBerry Watch started making the rounds. Of course, Research In Motion wasn’t working on a watch itself, but we didn’t learn until later that it was Allerta, a third-party startup, building the watch. Also it wasn’t called BlackBerry Watch. Instead, it was the inPulse smartwatch that promised Bluetooth-powered notifications, in addition to extended functionality - at least for thewatch.
Eric Migicovsky inpulse
Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky holding the Allerta inPulse smartwatch
As promising since it seemed, the inPulse watch faced several delays and, once it finally shipped to eager buyers who placed pre-orders, it had been discovered it was an extremely crude, infant marriage of smart capabilities and a typical wristwatch.
Some of the Allerta team would later become Pebble and fund its first self-titled smartwatch in the best successful Kickstarter campaign to date. Pebble also faced a few minor delays, but shipped to backers in spring 2013. Early reviews found that Pebble, albeit a step backwards from the inPulse smartwatch, was a solid product built from the ground up.
At the same time, Sony’s SmartWatch surfaced and startups like MetaWatch, i’m Watch, and WIMM Labbs started sprouting up. More importantly, larger manufacturers began to point out interest in the wearables category. In late 2013, Samsung introduced the Android-powered Galaxy Gear, followed by the Tizen-powered Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Slot in early 2014. Pebble introduced its second watch, Pebble Steel, at CES 2014. And a host of wearables and wrist-mounted fitness trackers were also presented at the show in Las Vegas.
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