GABA assembled the leaders of the most exciting wearable device start-ups in Silicon Valley to find out more about their potential--and to ask them the tough questions to discern whether this new class of device merely full of hype, or maybe can be of help?
Smartphones have become ubiquitous and manufacturing costs for networked devices have declined. This trend has created a new, growing device category: Wearable devices that contain:
Sensors to capture body movement and environmental data
A transmitter to send this data to the smart phone or other computer connected to the cloud, where the data can be displayed and interpreted.
Wearable devices promise to help consumers monitor their fitness and manage their chronic health problems, from back pain to sleep deprivation. For most users, there is an "aha" moment the first time they see the data stream that these devices are quietly recording as they are worn. We have entered a new era - the "Quantified Life".
But is this initial excitement (and resulting device usage) sustainable? Do the devices actually change user behavior - and thus improve their health? Will the quantified life movement carry beyond tech-savvy and nerd-dominated Silicon Valley? What happens to all the collected data - will it (should it) be kept private? VCs generally disfavor hardware-oriented startups - in light of this movement, is this beginning to change?
