2014, August 31
The gadget of 2014 is definitely not a smartphone, but a smartwatch. If the revenues of the global watch industry are stable at around $60B, the smartwatch market has been increasing tenfold per year and is estimated to reach $2.5B in 2014.
Among the companies that offer innovative products, Shanghai-based Geak company is forerunner in one domain: they are preparing to be first in the world to launch the round face smartwatch in September 2014 – Geak 2. The new Geak 2 watch will also feature Android 4.3 OS, a completely independent Chinese app ecosystem, and low energy consuming CPU. Take a glimpse here at the design.
According to the Zürich-based reseach think-tank Smartwatch Group, and based on the reported sales in 2013, Geak is ranked as 7th on the list of top smartwatch manufacturers. It is estimated that Chinese market will consume around 14 million smartwatches in 2014, and Geak believes to be able to capture 8 to 10%. Geak company (subsidiary of Shanda, video game and book publisher) has 160 employees and nurtures the culture of creativity. Read the interview with CEO Gu Xiaobin.
Smartwatch applications for Geak 2 will have to feature completely different design from smartphones’: in addition to the small size of the screen, they will have to accomodate the round shape. But the accessibility of wearable devices make them very attractive – while smartphones are usually kept in the pocket, wrist watch is much more quickly under your eyes. Even while driving, it is much easier to glance at your wrist watch than try (and risk) to get your smartphone. Interesting use cases could be: calendar and message notifications, speech-to-text interface, GPS-integration for the location-based alerts, instant or automatic emergency calls etc. Here is the sample of what has already been developed for Geak 2.
In the end, if you have not yet become enthusiastic for this new gadget, you will definitely get after this promotional video.