Exploring the Evolving Wearable Computer Industry

The above network shows a live view from Recorded Future describing the makeup of the wearable computer industry since June 2012 and looking forward to include any forecasts through 2016. The individual nodes are colored according to the organizations, products, and locations related to recent and near future developments in this technology space. You can see how major players in technology, internet, consumer products, and defense are all already jockeying for position!

Here are a few highlights, but click around the live view yourself to see what you can find:

• Tech geeks probably know it well, but Google and Apple are prominently leading the way by integrating mobile applications into glasses and watches respectively. The latter is rumored to be an Apple partnership with Intel, which would seek to benefit from early entry into a market requiring lots of new, tiny chips.
• Athletic gear manufacturers across the board are embracing the potential for wearable computers from the big boys at Adidas and Nike to the niche players like the partnership between Active Networks and Recon Instruments to develop new augmented reality goggles for skiers.
• And of course there is the defense industry, where we’ve seen investment and prototypes from wearable computer systems for helicopter pilots to the improvement of batteries for wearable devices to tactical ground communication systems.

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