Smartwatch vs. Google Glass – Who’ll seize the Future

Two novel products are on the verge of launch in the near future. It is expected that both will propel a monumental shift in the way technology is perceived today. Also, both are expected to be launched in the year 2013 itself. Yes, we are talking about ‘smartwatch’ and ‘Google Glass’. While the former was first envisioned by Apple and they have titled their product ‘iWatch’, the latter was the brainchild of Google. However, in the battle between Smartwatch and Google Glass, we expect Google Glass to be more promising and more capable of changing and seizing the future.

First, let’s talk about smartwatch. After the room for innovation in the smartphone market got saturated, big corporations were looking for something innovative to fill their coffers. The idea of a smartwatch has been there for years but was not feasible due to the high price of the miniature components which would go into the making of a smartwatch. When components got cheaper, companies like Apple and Samsung took the prospect of building a smartwatch seriously.

There are reports that Apple’s iWatch will be made from flexible glass which can fold along your wrist to increase the visible screen size. The watch is expected to be capable of showing your notifications, messages, email, etc. Further, Apple may also be planning to integrate ‘Siri’ into iWatch so that you can talk to your watch and won’t have to pull out your smartphone from your pocket for everything. The ‘iWatch’ would connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth.

Similar smartwatches are also being planned by companies like Samsung and Microsoft. However, smartwatches would likely serve as fancy alternative GUI for your smartphones and would only provide additional convenience of not having to take out your smartphone from your pocket every now and then. Further, they can also track your health in ways like tracking your pulse rate, your blood pressure, etc. Smartwatches are likely to be limited to this role only.

However, with ‘Google Glass’ there are immense possibilities and it has the potential to become a game-changer in the software market. Just as smartphone revolutionized the world, similarly ‘Google Glass’ has all the ingredients of becoming the next hip thing. Google Glass is also capable of showing information like email, text messages, notifications, walking directions, maps, etc. However, the advantage is that they will display the result in a small display right in front of your eye.

Further, Google is exercising strict control over the ways in which new apps for Google Glass should be developed. Google has termed these apps as ‘Glassware’. Developers have been informed of the guidelines along which the apps should be developed. In particular, Google has asked developers to ensure that apps do not send updates too frequently and to be sure to avoid doing anything consumers do not expect. Further, explicit permission of users is required to do things on user’s behalf. This is smart thinking by Google as a lot of privacy concerns are emerging for ‘Google Glass’.

If Google is successful in pushing Glass into the market in a positive manner then the Smartwatch vs. Google Glass battle will definitely go to Google Glass. However, if Google is unsuccessful in thwarting privacy concerns then the Smartwatch vs. Google Glass battle may as well go to smartwatches too.