Are we already over Wearable Technology?

I've been wearing a Nike FuelBand for about 3 years now. I'm actually on my 3rd one (2 original and now on the SE version) having had the first 2 fail and been replaced by Nike in London - great customer service I have to say.

But despite enjoying the novelty of the points collection, the smooth, slick Bluetooth data transfer to my iPhone App and the pretty stellar batter life (usually around 8-10 Days) - essentially.. it's a watch.

Sure it's the watch I wear every day without fail, it's great in the dark and it does tell the time - but this is hardly the promise of the much heralded age of Wearable Technology.

Prove the utility. Fast.

I am struggling to remember how many years running it has been "the year of mobile" but I am pretty certain we are running onto a "decade of mobile" and even now most large brands / companies / agencies *ahem* are yet to truly embrace mobile.

This in some ways is hardly surprising as digital marketing and technology has grown up in a broadband first world - whereas in emerging economies it's far more appropriate to talk about "mobile natives" than the "digital natives" of the US and Western Europe.

However wearable technologies, be they wristbands / eyeware (Glass) / heartbeat monitors or cameras - need to overcome the same hurdle that mobile has been facing for so long - proving the utility.

More than just health tracking.

One area we see the utility case is in health. Devices in this space are seemingly appearing on a monthly basis and may even be a contributor to the stagnating personal health market in the UK.

According to Mintel the average spend by UK consumers on a gym membership rose just £2 between 2009-2014 (£40 - £42) - whilst in the same time period we have seen an explosion of health tracking devices from Jawbone, Nike, Adidas, Withings and many others besides.

However if we are to hold the actions of Google with any weight, (which I'm going to suggest is probably wise...) the world's largest mobile OS believes we are all going to be doing a whole lot more than tracking our steps with Android for wearables - unveiling a suite of new devices using it's scarily accurate Google Now predictive assistant technology.

The platform certainly shows a lot of promise - and finally adds the style factor to the tech which for many consumers is the ongoing barrier - but only in the implementation and ease of use - not to mention price are we likely to see them win the war on this one.

Time to close the gap.

The hype machine is good at killing a valuable idea - and I certainly believe many of the devices on show right now are valuable ideas, and could even be great - but as with every technology revolution we need to find ways of solving a essential human problem.

Right now it's hard to make a case that these devices do that problem solving orders of magnitude better than the current high end smartphone you already own, and already have gotten so used to carrying around that you can't go with out it.

The wearable tech industry may need to be willing to sacrifice the do-it-all smartphone model to succeed - and crucially build services that will sit on top of these that solve those problems.