Over the last two years, there’s been something of an explosive rise in “wearable” technology. This past Christmas, one of the hottest selling electronic device categories was fitness trackers – as exemplified by Fitbit’s products, and many others. Retailers in many places exhausted their inventory. These wristband trackers count steps, calories, miles, floors climbed, etc. – and send all that data over the air to your smartphone, mobile computing device, or even the good old fashioned desktop computer. The apps associated with these devices display a dashboard for the user that summarizes their activities versus goals, and, increasingly, interact with other apps like calorie counters and food trackers to display summary statistics on the user’s physical day. It doesn’t take much thinking to ponder who might be interested in some of this data, does it? Is there a future where your healthcare rates might linked to such information? It’s certainly interesting to ponder. And, even if that scenario is a little too “1984” for your tastes, you certainly can see that a lot of businesses – athletic equipment suppliers, clothing retailers, shoe retailers, restaurants, grocery stores – would find that information useful for marketing purposes. It will be fascinating to watch and see how it evolves.
Its one example of how today each of us, in addition to making our daily way in the real world, are leaving a digital wake behind us as well, as we progress through the virtual network world that surrounds us. And, just like a ship at sea – that wake grows ever longer and ever wider with the passing of time.
The second example of wearable technology that is edging towards what might be an adoptive tipping point is best illustrated by Google Glass. Wearable computing technology that interacts with the user via the kind of visual, heads-up display that Glass represents has been a long time coming.
If you’re a science fiction fan, you’ll be familiar with the Cyberpunk movement that was born in the 90’s, and is perhaps best embodied in the seminal works of William Gibson. The movement was forecasting the physical interface between man and machine, among other things, and in ways that even today are still the domain of only prototypical kinds of research (the direct connection of our neurological systems with computing platforms and networks). A fundamental ethic of the movement was the foundational assumption that “the Street” found its own uses for new technology, and those uses oftentimes were never anticipated or even desired by the creators of that tech. The characters in these novels and stories live two lives – their on-line existence (experienced, via these machine to brain interfaces, as fully immersive sensory realities) and their off line, “meat world” lives. On line, they are avatars – custom constructs that represent the individual however they wished – moving in a first person reality through a virtual landscape that consisted of nodes on a global network, often portrayed as structures in a fantastic cityscape of the mind. These stories were a little bit before the explosive growth of mobile computing, so the characters would “jack-in” to their fixed computing platforms via a hard connection to their bodies – from there, they would ride the virtual networks across the world, while their “meat” shell would be parked, waiting for the return of their consciousness at some point.
Now, think how the Glass environment might evolve. I think it’s an early example of the kind of immersive experience that the Cyberpunk visionaries were describing. At some point, Glass, or the inevitable competing equivalents, might feel something like this:
You’re walking down the main street in your town or city; in addition to your ordinary vision, you have a head’s up display provided by your wearable technology projected as an overlay in front of you. As you pass a business, and your wifi signal connects to their local node, you leave a trail. Not unlike the way we leave trails today, via our smart devices, on cellular networks. People (businesses) who are interested will be able to find out that you were here, or passed this way. Is it so far-fetched to expect at some point that those businesses will be projecting information to you, as you pass by? “Come in and get a coffee and scone at 50% off!” or “Sale on Running Shoes – use this Coupon Code!”, or “The new 2016 Lexus is here!” You’ll see their corporate logos and mascots pop up in your vision, have the option to play their video commercials if you wish, send them a message asking if they have an item in inventory, or alternately, shut them off if you aren’t interested.
Is it wrong to expect those businesses to merge this data with other data they can access about you and your history? Is it crazy to think that those messages will be tailored to you as your profile grows with that business, and you’re recognized as an individual based on the address of your wearable devices? Given the way marketing expands to fill every niche available to it, it’s not crazy at all. (On a slight tangent, Google is also researching and investing in self driving car technology. Once the machine is doing the work, the windscreen becomes another opportunity to display a message – pass by a business, and get a “stop here!” message projected on that surface.)
By the way – in his 2007 novel “Spook Country” Gibson predicted phenomena called locative art, or LBM (location based media). In essence, artists tied their works to a certain physical location, and when users equipped with the right technology approached, it would appear in their field of vision. As a concept, this is also perfectly feasible with Glass like technology. You could see artwork overlaid on the landscape or cityscape as the artist intends. So, it’s not ALL about marketing, thankfully.
The question of whether Google Glass can reach a mass-adoption tipping point is currently being furiously debated. Right now, one of the issues being discussed is the “cool factor” versus, for lack of a better term, the “nerd factor”. Pundits have been saying that Glass needs to evolve from a tech-geek look-at-me flag to being anointed by pop culture opinion as “cool”. Curiously enough, ripped from today’s (1/28/14) CNN headlines: “Google Glass Adds Style, Prescription Lenses”. Google knows what has to happen. The Fashion Police have to give it their seal of approval, at some point.
That’s not unlikely, because you know what IS going to happen from a technology perspective – the device will get smaller, more seamless, and less Borg-like. At some point, it will be encompassed entirely by the frame and glass itself. At some point, you may not even require a traditional set of glasses, at all – you might have a headset, earpiece, or necklace that can project a holographic display that is only visible to the wearer. Star Trek stuff? Maybe, but since we already have the Communicator/Tricorder (our smartphones) maybe not that far-fetched, at all.
Now, regarding the cultural issues of privacy, the norms of where it will/won’t be considered allowable to have the device engaged remain to be hammered out. But, let me offer this prediction – my background is telecom, and I started that career when long distance service was the main battleground. Cell phones were the size of briefcases. I had a front row, enabling seat as they evolved into today’s smartphones. I can readily remember the opinions that people would be reluctant to carry cell phones around everywhere because it would be “too rude” to stop what you were doing in a public place and carry on a conversation without regard to the people in your immediate surroundings. Gosh, I wonder how that played out….. (Seriously, if you’re irritated now by people using cell phones, wait till EVERY function on them is voice activated, as Glass is foreshadowing).
We know, we know – right? Barriers to privacy fall faster than the rainforest, it seems. So, as you are thinking about the future of your marketing, and the size of the data you’ll need to manage to understand your customer, their preferences, and their decisions – don’t forget that there’s a whole greenfield of wearable technology driven data that today may be a gentle swell on the surface of the ocean of commerce – but that has the potential to be a future tsunami.
Chris Schultz, COO
Analytic Marketing Innovations, Inc