Virtual assistants expected to top virtual reality in holiday sales

Virtual assistants are set to pummel virtual reality headsets in the fight for consumer dollars this holiday season, while smartwatches drive wearable sales. Drones may fly under the radar, though.

Interviews with nearly two dozen analysts indicate high hopes for holiday electronics sales, but estimates of what will be the hit have changed.

VIRTUAL REALITY

After dubbing virtual reality as the "next mega tech theme" in a May 2015 industry report, brokerage Piper Jaffray will cut its 2016 estimate for sales of VR headsets by 65 percent to 2.2 million units in an as yet unpublished report.

Sales of high-end VR headsets including Facebook Inc's $599 Oculus Rift and Sony Corp.'s $399 PlayStation VR headset altogether will be about 300,000, reflecting supply constraints at Sony and the technological reality of Oculus and HTC Corp's $799 Vive: only about 6 million to 7 million computers globally can run the software, said Paul Lee of Deloitte UK.

"With high-end VR for a family of four one might be looking at $10,000," said Lee.

Samsung Electronics Co.'s under $100 Gear VR headset, which turns a phone into a VR device, will be the volume winner, because it will be given away with phones.

VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS
Two years after Amazon.com Inc introduced the Echo, a $179.99 hands free speaker with AI-powered virtual assistant Alexa, the virtual home assistant category is poised to beat out virtual reality and possibly a few other high tech competitors, according to the Consumer Technology Association.

Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz estimated nearly 10 million to 12 million Amazon Echo and Google Home virtual assistants could sell during the holidays.

"Personal assistants are going to blow VR out of the water," he said.

Google launched its $129 Home assistant in time for the holidays, but the $39.99 price of the Echo Dot-a miniaturized version of the original- and a list of features two years in the making give the Echo the edge this year, said Tractica analyst Mark Beccue.

"I saw one feature in a hackathon where you list items in the fridge then Alexa tells you here's what you can make for dinner tonight," he said.

WEARABLES

The Pebble smartwatch is folding and selling its intellectual property to market leader Fitbit Inc. -- which recently cut its holiday revenue forecast.

Still, the Consumer Technology Association forecasts 12.6 million wearables will be sold this holiday season, thanks largely to Apple Inc.'s Watch, which the industry group expects to chalk up 5.5 million sales.

Fitness devices are losing ground, in market share terms, to multipurpose watches, said Forrester analyst Julie Ask.

DRONES

GoPro Inc. recalled its highly anticipated Karma Drone in November, and industry sales for the year are expected to be 1.2 million, according to the CTA. That is more than double 2015, helped by a wide range of prices, but drones have not broken beyond being a niche product.

"There are plenty of drones that are $100, $150, that would be more in competition with virtual reality than anything else in terms of appeal for the same age groups," said Atherton Research analyst Jean Baptiste Su.

Oppenheimer's Uerkwitz put drones in the same basket as virtual reality, given price and limited use: "probably going to underperform" the competition.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Time runs out for smartwatch pioneer Pebble

SAN FRANCISCO - Smartwatch pioneer Pebble announced Wednesday it was shutting down, with tech wearables giant Fitbit acquiring some of its assets including key personnel.

"Due to various factors, Pebble is no longer able to operate as an independent entity. We have made the tough decision to shut down the company and no longer manufacture Pebble devices," Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky said in a statement.

Pebble, one of the early makers of connected watches which has sold some two million devices since launching in 2012, said that "many members of Team Pebble will be joining the Fitbit family to continue their work on wearable software platforms."

A separate statement from Fitbit said it had acquired "specific assets of Pebble, including key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development," but not the company's hardware product.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

"With basic wearables getting smarter and smartwatches adding health and fitness capabilities, we see an opportunity to build on our strengths and extend our leadership position in the wearables category," said Fitbit chief executive James Park.

"With this acquisition, we're well positioned to accelerate the expansion of our platform and ecosystem to make Fitbit a vital part of daily life for a wider set of consumers, as well as build the tools healthcare providers, insurers and employers need to more meaningfully integrate wearable technology into preventative and chronic care."

Pebble was among the early developers of smartwatches, raising money on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform. Its 2015 drive raised a record $20.3 million.

The deal comes with Fitbit leading the pack of connected wearables makers, but with its stock slumping.

Fitbit shares rose slightly to $8.02, well off its highs last year above $50.

A report this week from research firm IDC shows Fitbit with 23 percent of the global wearables market in the third quarter, shipping some 5.3 million devices including fitness bands and smartwatches.

IDC said 85 percent of the market remains "basic" wearables with a single function such as fitness tracking, with sluggish growth in the market for more complex devices that have their own applications like the Apple Watch.

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Apple considering expansion into wearable glasses: report

Apple Inc. is considering expanding into wearable glass headsets and has talked about the project with potential suppliers, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The wearable headset would show images, along with other information and may use augmented reality, according to the report.

Chief Executive Tim Cook, who has been struggling with a slowdown in iPhone sales in recent quarters, said earlier this year that the company would continue to invest a lot into augmented reality.

Apple, the world's largest technology company, has ordered a small number of near-eye displays for testing but has not obtained enough for production on a larger scale, the report added.

Apple declined to comment.

The move would make Apple the latest tech company to venture into wearable glasses.

Alphabet Inc.'s discontinued its own wearable glass headset, Google Glass, and closed the social media account linked to the device earlier this year, ending its attempt to popularize the expensive devices with consumers.

The device received plenty of attention when it was launched in 2012, but quickly ran into problems with its awkward appearance and privacy concerns over video recording.

Snap, an $18 billion company which makes the popular messaging app Snapchat, also launched its own video-camera sunglasses last week.

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Samsung introduces 'smart clothing'

This year's Consumer Electronics Show continues to step up to the demands of today's busy lifestyles. Bev Llorente has more on the latest trends in wearable gadgets and then some. -- ANC Dateline Philippines, January 12, 2016

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Apple Watch arriving in PH on Friday

MANILA - Power Mac Center, the official reseller of Apple products in the Philippines, has announced that the much-anticipated Apple Watch will be available in the country starting Friday.

On Facebook, the store said that Filipinos will be able to purchase Apple's first wearable device and the Apple Watch Sport at Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma.

"Your wait is almost over," it teased.

WATCH: A closer look at the newest Apple Watch 

The Apple Watch has been on display in Apple stores around the world since April 10. It was recently launched last June in countries such as Italy, Mexico, Spain, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland and Taiwan.

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Huawei updates wearable TalkBand with B2

MANILA — Chinese tech giant Huawei recently launched TalkBand B2 in the Philippines in response to the growing demand of Filipinos for devices that can complement their healthy lifestyles.

“As more Filipinos become health-conscious, so does the market for wearable technology and Huawei is at the forefront providing consumers with products that combine style and functionality with the latest technology," said Charles Wu, country head for consumer business group of Huawei Philippines.

“With its intuitive touch-and-swipe UI, the TalkBand B2 keeps you informed and updated wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, with on-screen notifications, reminders, alarms, tracking, and monitoring to keep you in touch with all the important things in life,” he added.

Wu said the convenient TalkBand B2 combines a Bluetooth earpiece and the functionality of a fitness tracker in one elegant design.

It is is equipped with dual-microphone, noise reduction technology and quality Bluetooth connectivity. It also has smart detection to know whether the Bluetooth earpiece is on the wristband or not, allowing it to automatically push audio (music/call) to the smartphone or B2 bracelet.

The TalkBand B2 can last up to five days, and support continuous call time up to six hours, and 12 days’ standby time.

It is also equipped with a pager to search and locate your smartphone, regardless of the phone model, through vibration or ring tone alerts.

With its innovative 6-axis motion sensor, the TalkBand B2 can automatically detect different activities with higher accuracy, such as walking, running cycling or climbing/hiking. It can also calculate the amount of calories burned by different activities to help you plan your workouts, diet and more.

Users can then sync the data with their mobile phone and even share their achievements with friends via social networks.

The same 6-axis sensor, likewise, allows the TalkBand B2 to automatically identify and record motions accurately, detect the duration of deep sleep and light sleep, and provide consumers with health tips on ways to improve their sleep pattern.

The TalkBand B2 sports a 0.73-inch, 128 x 88 pixel, mono PMOLED touchscreen. All you have to do is sweep your finger to cycle through the various modes such as the time/date, steps taken, sleep time, and calories burned.

The Huawei TalkBand B2 Sport Edition comes in black and white and priced at P6,990 while the Gold TalkBand B2 Executive Edition is priced P7,990. The Huawei TalkBand B2 is now available in all Huawei Brand Shops all over the Philippines.

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Wearables fight back as Apple Watch raises bar

TAIPEI -- The Apple Watch raised the bar for wearable technology when it launched in April, but smaller brands are seeking their own niche in the battle for wrist space.

New kids on the block at Taiwan's Computex tech fair insisted that style and simplicity were more important than myriad features, in the face of Apple's intimidating offering.

Apple's iPhone-compatible smart watch enables wearers to answer calls, check emails and access apps without taking their phones out of their pockets.

It also tracks fitness, plays music, offers customizable watch faces and comes in different colors and styles.

"Within consumer technology, smart watches are the biggest new category since tablets," said Daniel Matte, US-based analyst for research firm Canalys. "The Apple Watch has very much defined the category and set the benchmark for other vendors to follow."

Canalys has forecast 20 million Apple Watch shipments for 2015.

"Vendors other than Apple are improving their designs to be more fashionable and of higher quality, but the Apple Watch still has a significant design advantage," said Matte.

A host of smart watches are on the market from major players including Samsung, Sony, LG and Motorola, with Taiwan's Asus launching its new ZenWatch 2 Android Wear watch at Computex.

But lesser-known names are also taking their cue from Apple and attempting to forge their own direction.

"The Apple Watch is free advertising for less famous brands like us, because it makes more people interested in smart watches," said Christophe Arathoon of US-based watch-brand Omate, which launched its first smart watch in 2013, crowdfunded by Kickstarter.

Its watches are fashion-focused, says Arathoon, with the latest "Racer" a rugged sporty model in black, white, grey and red.

It links to iOS and Android phones, with wearers able to choose which notifications they receive. It also includes a music player and pedometer.

"Apple Watches are a good thing but they are too complicated," said Arathoon. "We have simplified our watches and made them fashionable and affordable."

The Racer costs US$149, less than half the price of the cheapest Apple Watch model.

'Zero features'

Taiwanese smart watch "Noodoe" also trades off its simplicity -- with its founder boasting it has "zero features."

The simple black band is billed as the "opposite of Apple Watch" but promises to help wearers channel their self-expression as they can copy their own hand-drawn images onto its monochrome watch face via a camera app.

Due to launch later this year for less than $100, it links to smart phones for notifications but has no fitness tracker.

"Most wearables of the last two years are more and more feature-centric," said founder John Wang, a former HTC executive.

"What we are trying to do is to recognize that wristwear has always been about self-expression.

"In a way, Noodoe is much closer to Swatch than to most of the wearables on the market today."

Other wearables on show at Computex ranged from mind-reading headsets to rings that might save your life.

Silicon Valley's Neurosky headsets -- which use EEG sensors to read brain activity -- are already on the market and will be used in new Star Wars game The Force Trainer II, released in September, in which wearers can imagine and control a hologram.

A less obtrusive wearable from Taiwan, the Keydex NFC Ring -- a ceramic ring which stores data -- introduced its new "SOS" model, which stores the wearer's medical information and can be accessed in an emergency with the tap of a smart phone.

And homegrown firm ChipSip showed the latest version of its smart glasses, which are being used in art galleries in Taiwan and Europe.

Wearers look at a painting and, through image recognition, explanatory text will appear in the glass.

The glasses can also be hooked up to headphones so wearers can watch and listen to movies and videos.

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Apple Watch to spark wearable tech growth: IDC

WASHINGTON - Wearable technology devices are seeing a growth surge that is likely to continue over the next few years, helped by the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch, a market tracker said Monday.

IDC said it expected some 45.7 million wearable tech gadgets to be shipped globally this year, up 133 percent from 2014.

By 2019, the research firm sees volumes of 126.1 million units, or an average growth pace of 45 percent.

Propelling the market higher will be devices like the Apple Watch, along with other smartwatches like Motorola's Moto 360, and Samsung's Gear watches.

Wrist-worn wearables, including bands, bracelets, and watches, will account for more than 80 percent of the market over the coming years, IDC said. But it also sees strong growth in smart clothing -- shirts, socks, hats, and other products with computing power -- along with connected eyewear and earwear.

"Smart wearables are about to take a major step forward with the launch of the Apple Watch this year," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

"The Apple Watch raises the profile of wearables in general and there are many vendors and devices that are eager to share the spotlight. Basic wearables, meanwhile, will not disappear. In fact, we anticipate continued growth here as many segments of the market seek out simple, single-use wearable devices."

IDC analyst Ryan Reith said that fitness bands, the early leader in wearables, have come down in price and are now being bundled with smartphones at little cost.

"The explosion of wearable devices was clearly led by fitness bands, which until recently commanded prices that provided comfortable margins, but those days are changing," he said

"The market is quickly shifting toward higher-priced devices that offer greater functionality."

IDC said it sees "smart wearables" with the ability to run outside applications grow 510 percent this year to 25.7 million units, while "basic" wearables will grow some 30 percent to 20 million units.

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Apple's rivals hope its Watch will boost their own wearable tech

BARCELONA - Apple's rivals want to benefit from its magic, hoping that its long awaited new smartwatch will finally conjure demand for wearable technology that has so far generated more buzz about its potential than actual sales.

Gizmos that users wear on their bodies have yet to live up to the hype as the next big thing in technology. But experts say the arrival of Apple's new Watch - expected to be launched at an event announced next week - could finally get consumers excited.

"If Apple is successful, it'll create a rising tide that will lift the whole market," said Ben Wood, a top gadget reviewer at technology market research firm CCS Insight.

His company predicts Apple will sell 20 million of its new smart watches this year, helping spur 150 percent growth in the wearable technology sector to 75 million gadgets, rising to 350 million by 2018. Strategy Analytics, a second research firm, estimates Apple is likely to sell 15 million watches this year.

Making novelty products is one thing. Getting people to wear them is entirely another. Just ask Nike or Google.

Sportswear maker Nike halted work on its line of sports fitness wristband products a year ago. By far the most high profile failure to date has been the futurist Google Glass, which the Internet giant quit producing in January.

The gangly glasses with a computer screen fascinated the world and drew legions of celebrities, fashion models and even Prince Charles to try on a pair, but the sometimes vertigo-inducing product prototype found few regular wearers.

Vendors must get over the "technology first" attitude and think in terms of specific benefits to consumers before they will buy anything so visible and intimate as wearables, according to a recent report by research firm Juniper Research.

"Consumers are still unsure about the use case for many wearable devices, including watches and glasses. In particular, consumers are hesitant to adopt wearable companion devices" that function much like smartphones, the report said.

Now, here comes Apple, with its track record of turbo-charging whole new categories, from music players to tablets, with products that win wide appeal. The company was as ever absent from the world's largest annual gathering of the mobile industry this week, but it nonetheless stole the show by announcing a mysterious event next Monday, where it is widely expected to launch its much-anticipated but pricey new watch.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, dozens of electronics makers were seeking attention for their own watches, fitness trackers and other wearable electronics accessories.

STYLE

To take their products into the mainstream, many manufacturers of smartwatches are focusing on style, trying to make them look less like futuristic gadgets with oversized rectangular screens, and more like classic watches.

This year saw several companies follow the lead of Motorola, now owned by China's Lenovo, which won kudos last year by showing off a style-conscious device with a round screen. Both China's Huawei and South Korea's LG Electronics showed off round smartwatches this year.

"It looks like a real watch!" Huawei's head of consumer business Richard Yu boasted of his company's offering, which sports a choice of 40 round screen "faces", including replicas of classical Swiss watches.

While makers of conventional watches have so far mostly resisted the move to smartwatches, there are signs that brands better known for style than technology are testing the market. American brand Guess launched what it described as the first fashion-branded smartwatch.

Nike may have postponed its entry, but its U.S. sportswear rival Under Armour stepped in, launching a co-branded fitness device with Taiwanese phone maker HTC.

Still, for now wearable smart devices mostly work by linking to a smartphone, and consumers do not seem to be lining up to buy a watch that acts mainly as an expensive remote control for a phone they have to carry in their pockets anyway.

Some experts say the technology will only really take off when the wearables can be used independently.

Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said "smartwatches will complement, not replace smartphones" for at least the next two to three years.

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This belt can help you lose weight

LAS VEGAS - Wearable tech can sometimes cut right to the chase: that's the case with "Belty," a smart belt unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show which aims to help people lose weight.

With its embedded sensors, the belt will vibrate when it determines you have eaten too much, and also send a signal when you are sedentary for too long.

The belt also loosens when its wearer sits and tightens on standing, simply sensing body movements.

The prototype device from French-based startup Emiota has garnered considerable attention in the tech and general news media and notched one of the CES Innovation awards at this year's giant Las Vegas tech show.

"If you are sitting at your desk too long, it will vibrate and tell you to get up and take a walk," says Emiota's Carine Coulm

The belt connects to a smartphone app which acts as a fitness "coach," she added.

The belt, expected to be ready for consumers later this year, has been designed initially only for men, in part because the sensors require a thick belt that is more suited to males.

But the startup is working on a female version as well.

"If it is sleeker and thinner it may be interesting for women," said Emiota's Johan Gobba.

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Wearable gadgets not ready for prime time - tech watchers

LAS VEGAS - Despite the hoopla, wearable gadgets like wristwatches for checking your text messages or eyeglasses that capture video are unlikely to make a splash with consumers anytime soon, given the clumsy designs, high prices and technological constraints of many of the current offerings.

That is the conclusion drawn by many industry executives and analysts who trolled the vast exhibition halls of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

Most of the wearable products on display at the industry's premier showcase looked like awkward attempts to shoehorn technology into new forms without an original or compelling benefit for the wearer, skeptics say.

Stacy Rasgon, a semiconductor analyst at Bernstein, spent a day at CES busily snapping photos of every fitness band, watch and other wearable device he came across.

"I have 20 different photos, but if I look at the pictures I couldn't tell you which product is from which vendor. They all look the same," Rasgon said. "Wearables sound like a great idea and there's going to be a lot of experimentation. People are throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks."

Sony Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Qualcomm Inc showed off new or recently launched smartwatches, most of which act as extensions to cellphones, letting users check messages and appointments. Wristbands - like the popular Fitbit that tracks physical activity - also accounted for a big chunk of the devices on display at CES.

"For wearables to finally match up with the hype, (they have) to be a true solution, where it isn't about the technology - it's about what the technology enables you to do, something you couldn't do before," said Mike Bell, the senior executive leading Intel Corp's wearables push.

"The function, form and experience have to be as important as the parts you slap inside," he said.

Intel this week unveiled its take on wearables that Bell believes serve a clear purpose and could catch on, including prototype earbuds with a built-in heart rate monitor that changes the music on a smartphone to keep pace with a workout. It also announced a collaboration with luxury department store Barneys New York to develop smart bracelets intended to look like they were dreamed up by a fashion designer - not an engineer.

The wearables mania gripping the industry is in part a response to slowing smartphone and tablet markets. After growing 39 percent in 2013, global smartphone shipments are forecast to expand by just 18 percent annually through 2017, with prices steadily falling, according to market research firm IDC. Tablet shipments are seen up 22 percent this year, compared with 54 percent in 2013.

Tech executives say many consumers are intrigued by the potential for wearable gadgets, but they are also cautious. A survey by research company Yankee Group in December found less than 10 percent of respondents planned to pay $200 or more for a fitness wellness device.

A survey by Wakefield Research, commissioned by U.S. cloud-services company Citrix Systems, last November found 91 percent of respondents were excited about wearables, but 61 percent said they had no plans to purchase one.

Simon Randall, whose British-based OMG Life Plc makes a wearable camera called Autographer, is not surprised. He recalls the lukewarm reception when Nokia, his employer at the time, introduced camera-phones more than a decade ago.

"New things take time to be broadly adopted but if there's an intrinsic benefit at the heart of them they'll prosper," Randall said.

HAUTE COUTURE

Samsung's $300 Galaxy Gear may have had the biggest launch of any wearable so far - but it was panned by reviewers. It shipped an estimated 800,000 of the watches in the two months since it was introduced in September, a figure that pales in comparison to the millions its smartphones manage.

Some experts said Apple may have the best chance of developing a gadget that will propel the wearable category into prime time, given its track record in consumer devices.

"2014 will be more a year of attempts than of successful products. And for a lot of manufacturers it will be a matter of waiting to see what Apple does," said Carolina Milanesi, a consumer tech analyst at Kantar Worldpanel.

While the electronics show lacked sure-fire winners, some offers were definitely intriguing and drew crowds.

Epson unveiled a $700 pair of eyeglasses that allow the user to simultaneously view data about objects they are looking at. Sony's prototype glasses can display captions and information about programs a viewer is watching on TV.

Another offer was a bracelet made by Netatmo embedded with a sensor that looks like a jewel and which measures exposure to sunlight, helping the wearer decide when to put on sunscreen.

Even Qualcomm, one of the largest companies now touting the impending wearable device revolution and purveyor of the "Toq" smartwatch, acknowledges the hurdles ahead.

Raj Talluri, who oversees the design of its Snapdragon smartphone processors, wants to add the same chips to watches and apparel to let them handle much more sophisticated functions. But more work needs to be done on power consumption.

"The power consumption of processors really needs to get an order of magnitude less," Talluri said. "People's expectation in wearables is not that they have to charge them every day. They want to wear things for weeks."

(Additional reporting by Michael Gold in Taipei; Editing by Edwin Chan, Tiffany Wu, Frank McGurty and Edwina Gibbs)

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