Smartwatches: How Relevant Are They?

Speculations are rife that Apple’s long-anticipated smartwatch will hit the markets soon and the tech industry is literally exploding with news about various manufacturers world over who could be coming up with more such devices. But at the moment, Sony is the only big-ticket company that has launched a smartwatch in India, which has not done too well. In the coming months, we might see some more smartwatches from Samsung, Microsoft, Qualcomm and LG as well. In fact, Samsung and Qualcomm have already unveiled some among mixed reactions.

But the real question here is – are these watches actually relevant? And would anyone pick them up? The answer is no and yes. But before we dive into that, let’s talk about what a smartwatch does. Basically, it is an extension of your smartphone and is very similar to a regular wrist watch with all the features, which a digital one should have. However, it does a bit more than your regular digi-watch. Users can see who is calling, answer calls, read text messages, play songs and even manage some third-party apps with it.

That said, one could argue, for all that, we already have an expensive smartphone. So, why should we purchase one? Going by earlier trends, the tech industry and the consumers are eternally hungry for something new to boast of. And the smartwatch seems to fall into the right category – the right evolutionary step in the tech progression path. While one really does not require it, many will pick it up for its fad value. The makers are banking hard on the youth to make it a success, but going by the not-so-warm reception of Sony’s smartwatch, many do fear that the response to the next generation of smartwatches will not be as successful as the smartphones.

Nevertheless, one should not forget that Apple might be building one too. And what the past 10 years have taught us is, whatever big or small comes from the camp Apple, becomes the talk of the town. The smartwatch is something we are looking forward to and it might just keep the tech evolutionary cycle ticking.