This year we have heard a lot of chatter about the future of wearable devices. We’ve seen a number of companies detail their smartwatches, many of them seeking to achieve their crowdfunding goals. We saw Samsung, Sony, Qualcomm and a few other major companies release their smartwatches. Google continued to make rounds with its Google Glass, which is expected to be released to the public next year. What about Microsoft though? Does Redmond plan on entering the wearable technology market? Seems so, it has been rumored that there are a couple of gadgets being developed at Microsoft. One company executive has reportedly said that despite all of the hype surrounding wearable devices, they’re not likely to enter the mainstream market until 3-5 years from now.
The comment, picked up by Focus Taiwan, was made by Microsoft’s corporate vice president and chairman of its Asia-Pacific research group, Zhang Ya-qin. He expects to see a lot of “try-outs” of such devices in the coming years, devices which are likely to include watches and eyeglasses. Ya-qin says that such devices will require more time, “maybe three to five years in development,” before we can see them in the mainstream market. Though this obviously doesn’t mean that Microsoft won’t come out with a “try-out” of its own within this time period. Only recently the company was rumored to be testing prototypes for “internet-connected eyewear,” basically its own Google Glass rival.
Filed in . Read more about Google Glass, Microsoft and Wearable Tech.