Tags containing: "Apple Watch"

Are Wearables A Good Fit For Your Future?

May 15, 2015 Research Team—DCN

If estimates that more than 1 million Apple Watches sold on launch day are even close to correct, that means Apple sold more Watches in a day than all the manufacturers of Android Wear devices (Samsung, LG, etc.) shipped in 2014. That gives Apple quite a leg up in the smartwatch race with Google – and don’t forget the crowd-funded Pebble.

Is the Apple Watch overhyped? Will the Apple Watch somehow serve as a bridge to a true wearables revolution, involving not just smartwatches but also virtual reality (like Facebook’s Oculus Rift) and augmented reality devices (like Google Glass)?

Mixed reviews of the Apple Watch and the uncertainty surrounding future development of smartwatch platforms have given some people – also in our industry – pause for thought. Begging the question for news publishers: What should we do about smartwatches and other wearables? How do we assess their potential?

These are among the questions that the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers addresses in its new report, “Wearables: The key considerations for news publishers.” Rather than encourage publishers “to launch 1,000 apps for smartwatches, or to partner or invest in startups developing VR and AR technologies,” the report seeks to raise the key questions about these potentially disruptive technologies to help publishers better determine a course of action – or non-action.

Some of the features in the report:

FAQs about wearables
Mario GarcÍa on design of smartwatches
Jeff Jarvis on how newsrooms should respond
Apple Watch: reviews of the reviewers
Usability guru Bruce Tognazzini on the Apple Watch
Kerry Northrup on how wearables may impact journalists’ work
Ralf Ressmann on why journalists cannot say no to smartwatches
Kim Svendsen on how smartwatches will create a shortcut to news
What about advertising and revenue possibilities on wearables
How to get a head start on implementing new technologies
Wearables research from partners of the Global Alliance of Media Innovation
Major questions for discussion

Innovation | Perspectives

Publishers Explore the Potential for Apple Watch Apps

April 23, 2015 Mark Glaser, Founder and Publisher – MediaShift

Apple’s slow reveal for the new wearable Watch has given publishers some time to think about how it might fit into their plans. Digital content makers are already dealing with a dizzying array of distribution options on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope — and now the Watch!

Developers have submitted more than 1,000 apps for Apple’s approval ahead of the company’s upcoming official release date on April 24 (though most people won’t get them until much later). But the question of whether people might actually use the Apple Watch — and whether publishers should pour resources into creating their own apps — has to do with how users first understand and use the Watch in the first place.

In the case of news apps, for example, the Apple Watch would encourage a sort of “glance journalism.” The New York Times is coming out with an app for the Apple Watch that would feature one-sentence stories. It’s neither a tweet, a headline nor a condensed version of an article appearing on other Times’ platforms, but “a new form of storytelling to help readers catch up in seconds,” as a Times representative put it. The length of this one-sentence story won’t be contained in the number of characters but in the amount of space it would take up on the Apple Watch screen. NPR and CNN have also reportedly developed apps to make the watch a “wearable news source,” as Nick Gallagher wrote in the American Journalism Review.

Personalized Experiences
In other words, even if few publishers have yet to actually use the Apple Watch, they’re foreseeing a utility with it. CNN’s Apple Watch app is also aimed at creating a more personalized experience for its user by sending push notifications, though its developers admit they have to be careful with it because of the low tolerance for these alerts on wearable devices. The Economist, meanwhile, doesn’t plan to focus on text and push notifications, which most publishers are doing, but will use the app as a remote control device to control its audio edition on the iPhone. It also doesn’t plan to include advertising on its app. Economist deputy editor Tom Standage said, however, that its strategy might change over time and will ultimately depend on the usage patterns of its users, which still remain a mystery.

Another publisher, NBC’s Breaking News, has developed an app that will offer alerts as well as a “tip” button that users could use to send information back to Breaking News about news happening around them. Breaking News co-founder Cory Bergman told The Verge that they expect new users to tap on this tip button “just for fun,” but that “over time we’re expecting more signal than noise.”

Ups and Downs
It’s still hard to say whether Apple Watch will remain exclusive to the very wealthy and geeky. Some analysts believe Apple could help boost an entirely new category of devices. Others are lamenting its shortcomings even before it’s officially come to market.

One problem is that not everyone gets to develop “native apps” that run much better than third-party apps. The latter have a tendency to load and perform slowly, making it much more difficult for newer companies to break out on the Apple Watch — for now.

The bottom line is that the Apple Watch is “first and foremost, an iPhone accessory,” as Scott Stein wrote in CNET. The scope for what apps, including third party apps, can do in the future will no doubt increase once the Watch firmly plants its footprint on the market and more users start testing it. But it’s safe to say that until the Watch becomes less of an iPhone accessory and more of its own independent device, it’s best for publishers to approach this new device with a grain of salt, and first learn more how to integrate it into future efforts.

Innovation

AccuWeather Predicts a Sunny Future for Wearables and the IOT

March 11, 2015 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

It seems quaint to remember when mobile-first was considered radically forward thinking. Now, given the Internet of Things, not only does “mobile” mean so much more than phones, the places content can (and will) go are boundless. Daunting? Yes. But also exciting.

When David Mitchell joined AccuWeather eight years ago, he had responsibility for all of the company’s digital platforms, which at the time meant anemphasis on mobile. Now, as the Vice President of Digital Media, Emerging Platforms, he’s heading up a team focused on the (new) future. , Mitchell and his team are exploring the myriad opportunities presented by the ability to connect current and historical weather data to all of the rich contextual data that is now being collected through wearables and the Internet of Things.

Mitchell describes it as early days in terms of what is possible. “We’re launching some 101 stuff that goes beyond simply providing the weather on another device” he says, pointing to the company’s work with partners such as Garmin, for which it developed an app that gives users air quality and allergy information. He describes AccuWeather’s first-generation wearable apps as “one size fits all, based on location.”

However he is very enthusiastic about what the next generation or two of applications will bring. His team is beginning to look at what is possible when AccuWeather’s data—which was recently enhanced by the acquisition of WeatherBank—is combined with the data collected by internet-connected devices themselves. He looks forward to seeing what his team can come up with when, for example AccuWeather.com’s Lifestyle Forecasts, which offer localized insights into things like flu, skiing, lawn and garden and snow days, can be combined with device data for use in other areas.

The second stage of development, he believes, will be the tailoring content by general categories such as gender and age, eventually leading to truly personalized content experiences if people opt-in to providing more specific information about themselves.. This might mean that your watch notifies you on days when you’re most likely to perform your personal best, according to your vital signs and recent eating habits. The goal, he says, would be for devices to be helpful and even save you time and money: “Right now, you can adjust your thermostat remotely with your phone, but wouldn’t it be great if it would auto-adjust based on your habits and preferences to save you money—and be the perfect temperature when you walk in the door?”

Of course there are potentially lucrative advertising opportunities that come with an informed universe of connected devices. (Setting out for a new personal best today? Perhaps these shoes would help…) While Mitchell concedes that advertising will likely be a part of funding AccuWeather’s wearable future, he says that right now he’s not focused on it. “We need to build this ecosystem. If we worry too much about the business models, we aren’t going to focus enough on getting stuff right.”

Mitchell believes that this week’s news about the introduction of the Apple Watch is good news for the future of wearables. In particular, he believes that Apple’s Open Source Resource Kit will encourage a fresh round of development in the space, noting that “Apple can make wearables more mainstream.”

In a recent panel at Mobile World Congress, Mitchell had an opportunity to give his opinion on what needs to happen for wearables and Internet of Things to build that mainstream momentum. “On top of the things the other panelists pointed to, such as a need for standards and a business model, the big thing I see that we need is trust between organizations. We are at the very beginning of this stuff, but the potential is phenomenal.” That potential, says Mitchell, is not just to earn money for organizations, but to “positively affect people’s lives.”