Five Things Samsung's Smartwatch Tells Us About the Future of Wearables

VentureBeat got an exclusive early look atSamsung's upcoming smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, over the weekend.

It's a chunky, ugly block of a thing, even accounting for the fact that the model we saw (and got photos of) is just a prototype, as VentureBeat reporter Christina Farr reported.

But even in its unfinished state, Samsung's Galaxy Gear tells us a lot about where the emerging smartwatch industry is going. Here are five conclusions we can already draw about smartwatches and wearable tech.

Smartwatches are big devices

 

According to our source as well as other publications, the prototype is not far from what the real thing will look like. It probably won't have exposed screws on the front bezel: That's an unfinished-looking detail that might make sense on a Casio G-Shock watch, but doesn't fit in with Samsung's overall design language. It may have different colors and a different skin; it may even be slightly differently shaped.

But the basics will likely be just as we reported: A 3-inch-diagonal slab on top of your wrist, with a 2.5-inch OLED screen embedded in it. There will be a camera (4 megapixels), accelerometers, Android apps, and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for connecting to the Internet and to your phone.

And, thanks to recent court decisions, the face of the watch will probably be a rounded rectangle.

Reports on battery life differ: Our source told us it would last about 10 hours, but others are saying 24 hours of normal use, and just 10 hours if heavily used. We'll have to wait until we have our hands on a production model and can fully test it to know for sure.

It's not clear who wants to wear a giant, 3-inch chunk of metal and plastic on their wrist. Beefy weightlifters, sure. People with skinny wrists, not so much.

That's why many people have their hopes pinned on Apple's upcoming news conference on Sept. 10, where they hope to see the Cupertino iPhone maker unveil its own smartwatch. Presumably Apple, even in the faded-glory Tim Cook days, would never embarrass itself by shipping something so huge and blocky as Samsung's Galaxy Gear.

But even Apple will be limited by physics to a certain extent. As it discovered with its now-defunct square iPod nano, the smallest you can conceivably make a touchscreen is about two inches square -- and even that is a little too small to be usable. But a two-inch-square screen is still going to make for a rather bulky watch, by wristwatch standards.

Wearable tech is fitness-focused

One thing is clear: Samsung is making fitness and health tracking a big part of its push into wearable technology.

It's a smart choice, since fitness is the route through which wearables have entered the market most successfully so far. To the extent that people are "wearing" technology, it's been through fitness-tracking bracelets like Nike's Fuelband (which has probably sold 1 to 2 million units, according to estimates), not geek-chic eyewear like Google Glass.

Nike's Fuelbands are everywhere. Competitors, including the Fitbit Flex and the Jawbone Up, have sprouted up. The Basis watch is closer to a modern smartwatch, in that it has a full-blown display.

But while they have their fans, more generic "smartwatches" like the Pebble haven't taken off to the same extent. The Pebble enhances your experience of using a phone, but it's not a fitness device.

Samsung's focus on fitness stands in contrast to Sony, which has its own Android SmartWatch product (which almost no one is using, as far as I know -- I've never seen one in the wild). Sony's product does offer fitness apps, but it's primarily a notification device that enhances your phone by giving you a miniature display that can alert you to incoming calls and texts, help you place calls, etc.

It turns out that people are more willing to put something on their wrist if it helps them achieve fitness goals than if it simply helps them use their smartphones.

Wearable tech is on the wrist

There's another approach to getting people to wear technology: Embed it into something like your eyeglasses, giving you an omnipresent heads-up display.

But while Google Glass has provoked a lot of excited experimentation and speculation, it has also provoked an equally excited backlash. And "smart glasses" are far less ubiquitous than fitness bands.

The reason for that is clear: Putting something on your wrist is a smaller commitment than putting something on your head.

At a conference earlier this year, Apple's Tim Cook made some guardedly positive commentsabout Google Glass.

But, he said, "from a mainstream point of view this [pointing at his head] is difficult."

Some day, we may all be wearing heads-up displays that enable us to discreetly Google people as we meet them. But for now, the technology is simply too intrusive-looking and too odd to pass muster with the mainstream -- no matter how many Vogue fashion features Google Glass appears in.

In the near term, the wrist is where it's at for wearables.

Thanks to Samsung and the anticipated entrance of Apple into the smartwatch market, Juniper Research recently estimated that smartwatch sales would jump from 1 million units this year to 36 million in 2018. That's a typical wild-eyed analyst guess, but it does give some sense of the potential for growth in this market.

Wearables will reshape the health industry

Wrist-mounted computers or smartwatches will eventually prove to be an enormous boon for the health industry, because of their potential to help individuals collect data on their physical activity, motivate them to exercise more, and provide healthcare companies with real, personal data.

Today, smartwatches and fitness bands can track physical activity through the most basic metrics, such as steps. With more sophisticated accelerometers and algorithms, the Fuelband can make a guess at what kind of activity you're actually doing. Some devices, like the Basis watch, track heart rate.

Future sensors could allow smartwatches to track things like your blood oxygenation level, muscle activation, posture, and more. In some cases, these may require additional sensors located on other parts of your body: An oxygenation sensor on the tip of your toe; a posture sensor taped to your back, and so forth.

“I envision the iWatch as a sensor network,” Tan Rao, the founder of a wearables startup called Sensing Strip, told VentureBeat recently, speculating about a future Apple smartwatch. “The master sensor will likely be located on the wrist.”

Privacy, of course, becomes a huge issue when devices are gathering such intimate data on what your body is doing. The data becomes valuable for diagnosis, prevention, and fitness when you can share it with your doctor and your personal trainer -- but you want to make sure it doesn't get used to deny you a job, turn you down for medical coverage, or get posted to public networks without your permission.

“No one has created standards around that; no one is digging deep on the privacy side,” said Missy Krasner, an executive in residence at Morgenthaler Ventures, in the same VentureBeat article.

Wearables will need data standards

Finally, with so many competitors in the wearables space, we need ways to connect them to one another. It's an issue we already face with the proliferation of fitness apps: I can use RunKeeper on my iPhone, Android phone, or via a web page, but I can't get RunKeeper's data to sync with MapMyFitness.

Similarly, if I'm using a Nike Fuelband, I can't get its obnoxiously proprietary "Fuel" points to translate into data that is usable by other fitness-tracking apps.

After Samsung releases a smartwatch, there will be one more player on the market providing a device that generates data. Is it too much to hope that this data will be easy to integrate into other fitness applications?

The fact that Samsung's Galaxy Gear is Android-based suggests that interoperability might, in fact, be on its way.

But don't hold your breath for Apple's iWatch, if it appears next week, to interoperate with data from the Galaxy Gear -- or vice versa.

What this industry needs, if it's going to grow beyond a few niche products for enthusiasts, is some way to collect all this data, integrate it and share it -- securely, while respecting the privacy preferences of each individual -- and feed it into larger healthcare and fitness-management programs.

Founders, “Why” Matters as Much as “What” & “How”

As Homebrew ramps up its investing, I’ve been really impressed by the quality of founders we’re seeing raising seed rounds. Although any investor ends up saying “no” 99 out of 100 times, many of the companies that weren’t a great fit for us have gone on to raise strong rounds and I’m sure many will be quite successful. Satya and I enjoy being transparent about our values and happy to iterate in public, so here’s something we believe:

Founders who can answer “Why” have a competitive advantage over those who can’t, and tend to be better fits for Homebrew.

The average pitch contains substantial time dedicated to the “what” and the “how.” What is the market you’re serving? What is the product you’re building? What is the customer pain you’re addressing? How will you build your product? How will you recruit a team? How will you get customers? All of these questions are essential and certainly factor into any investment decision we make.

That said, “what” and “how” haven’t been sufficient to get us to YES. In the handful of investments we’ve made to date and the termsheets we generated this week (it’s been busy), there has consistently been a strong “Why” as well.

Why are you taking years from your life to work on this problem? Why does your company deserve to exist and why is the world a better place when it succeeds? Founders who can answer the “why” are usually called “mission-driven.” It doesn’t mean they’re necessarily curing cancer or solving global warming (although they might be). Rather there’s a deep conviction that they’re on a personal crusade, one which you need to get on board with RIGHT NOW.

Mission-driven founders energize us. Mission-driven founders also have a competitive advantage in the marketplace. We believe they are better recruiters – not just warm bodies, but the best, most talented people who have many choices and want to work for something which matters. Mission-driven founders seem to commit a little more to their startups because they are giving their heart, not just their brain to the effort. Mission-driven founders build strong cultures.

“How” and “What” can be logically derived. “Why” needs to be felt. And just like funk, it can’t be faked.

If you are a founder who knows Why and you’re working in the Bottom Up Economy helping SMBs, developers and consumers drive economic growth, Homebrew would be honored to hear from you.

If you’re a superstar working for a CEO who you think can’t answer the Why, we’re happy to try and find you a new home because, hey, why not? :)

Legendary Violinist - Manoj George

The One Thing Successful People Never Do

Success comes in all shapes and colours. You can be successful in your job and career but you can equally be successful in your marriage, at sports or a hobby. Whatever success you are after there is one thing all radically successful people have in common: Their ferocious drive and hunger for success makes them never give up.

Successful people (or the people talking or writing about them) often paint a picture of the perfect ascent to success. In fact, some of the most successful people in business, entertainment and sport have failed. Many have failed numerous times but they have never given up. Successful people are able to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and carry on trying.

I have collected some examples that should be an inspiration to anyone who aspires to be successful. They show that if you want to succeed you should expect failure along the way. I actually believe that failure can spur you on and make you try even harder. You could argue that every experience of failure increases the hunger for success. The truly successful won't be beaten, they take responsibility for failure, learn from it and start all over from a stronger position.

Let's look at some examples, including some of my fellow LinkedIn influencers:

Henry Ford - the pioneer of modern business entrepreneurs and the founder of the Ford Motor Company failed a number of times on his route to success. His first venture to build a motor car got dissolved a year and a half after it was started because the stockholders lost confidence in Henry Ford. Ford was able to gather enough capital to start again but a year later pressure from the financiers forced him out of the company again. Despite the fact that the entire motor industry had lost faith in him he managed to find another investor to start the Ford Motor Company - and the rest is history.

Walt Disney - one of the greatest business leaders who created the global Disney empire of film studios, theme parks and consumer products didn't start off successful. Before the great success came a number of failures. Believe it or not, Walt was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because he was not creative enough! In 1922 he started his first company called Laugh-O-Gram. The Kansas based business would produce cartoons and short advertising films. In 1923, the business went bankrupt. Walt didn't give up, he packed up, went to Hollywood and started The Walt Disney Company.

Richard Branson - He is undoubtedly a successful entrepreneur with many successful ventures to his name including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Music and Virgin Active. However, when he was 16 he dropped out of school to start a student magazine that didn't do as well as he hoped. He then set up a mail-order record business which did so well that he opened his own record shop called Virgin. Along the way to success came many other failed ventures including Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothes, Virgin Vie, Virgin cards, etc.

Oprah Winfrey - who ranks No 1 in the Forbes celebrity list and is recognised as the queen of entertainment based on an amazing career as iconic talk show host, media proprietor, actress and producer. In her earlier career she had numerous set-backs, which included getting fired from her job as a reporter because she was 'unfit for television', getting fired as co-anchor for the 6 O'clock weekday news on WJZ-TV and being demoted to morning TV.

J.K. Rowling - who wrote the Harry Potter books selling over 400 million copies and making it one of the most successful and lucrative book and film series ever. However, like so many writers she received endless rejections from publishers. Many rejected her manuscript outright for reasons like 'it was far too long for a children's book' or because 'children books never make any money'. J.K. Rowling's story is even more inspiring because when she started she was a divorced single mum on welfare.

Bill Gates -co-founder and chairman of Microsoft set up a business called Traf-O-Data. The partnership between him, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert was based on a good idea (to read data from roadway traffic counters and create automated reports on traffic flows) but a flawed business model that left the company with few customers. The company ran up losses between 1974 and 1980 before it was closed. However, Bill Gates and Paul Allen took what they learned and avoided those mistakes when they created the Microsoft empire.

History is littered with many more similar examples:

• Milton Hershey failed in his first two attempts to set up a confectionery business.
• H.J. Heinz set up a company that produced horseradish, which went bankrupt shortly after.
• Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, the company he founded. Only to return a few years later to turn it into one of the most successful companies ever.

So, the one thing successful people never do is: Give up! I hope that this is inspiration and motivation for everyone who aspires to be successful in whatever way they chose. Do you agree or disagree with me? Are there other things you would add to the list of things successful people never do? Please share your thoughts...

Things I Carry: Laptop, Swimsuit & Country Music

I spend a lot of time on the road, traveling around the world to meet with customers, investors and employees. Last year alone, I spent more than 60% of my time traveling.

While I’m accustomed to frequent travel and moving at a fast pace, there are a few things I always try to carry and can’t go without. These help me stay focused, tune out the noise and provide the flexibility I need whether I’m at home or on the road.

Staying Focused

Since competing in high school, I’ve tried to make swimming a part of my regular routine. The physical exercise and time alone in a pool is a great outlet for focusing my thoughts and relieving stress. When I’m in town, I start my day at a local public pool where I’m enrolled in a Masters Swimming program. When traveling, I always carry a swimsuit and try to stay at a location near a pool so I can get in a morning swim regardless of time zone.

Tuning Out the Noise

As any member of my team who has spent time with me in a car will tell you, I’m a big fan of Country music. Some favorites include George Strait, Brooks & Dunn and Shania Twain. I keep my phone loaded with playlists that I use to tune out the noise and help me concentrate while traveling. Our CFO, Cathie Lesjak, shares a similar appreciation for Country music – sometimes when we’re working late you can hear Country playing from our cubicles.

Flexibility On and Off the Clock

I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t include at least one plug for HP. One item I can’t travel without is the HP Envy x2, our latest laptop/tablet hybrid. It’s lightweight and easy to carry on trips. While on a plane, I use it as a notebook to send emails and handle work. When I want to unwind, I slide off the screen and use it as a tablet to watch a movie and decompress. I have to work efficiently when I’m on the go and the Envy x2 helps me get the job done wherever I happen to be.