C4 Trends Information

For the New Year, C4 is focusing on wearable technologies. Two key events catapulted wearables - the introduction of Google Glass and the launch of the Pebble Smartwatch, the crowdfunding wonder that raised more than $10 million, making it one of the most successful Kickstarter projects to date. The fusion of fashion and accessories with associated apps, software and hardware will change the way people use technology in their everyday lives. It is becoming more common to connect low-energy devices like wristbands to iPhones for health or behavior tracking - with technologies like micro-controllers, flexible screens, Internet of Things (IoT), and personal data collection - as well as Wi-Fi, motion sensors, GPS, digital compass, accelerometers, location-based services, speech recognition, localization, MEMS and network technologies. With new products from brands like Apple, Epson, Fitbit, Garmin, Google, Magellan, Microsoft, Nike, Qualcomm, Reebok and Samsung, wearables will be big in 2014. By 2017, companies will ship more than 64 million wearable devices. that includes 35 million smart watches, a significant bump from 400,000 that are expected to be sold this year, according to Berg Insight, a Swedish telecom market researcher. retail revenue from smart watches and glasses will reach $19 billion by 2018 as compared with $1.4 billion this year, says Juniper Research.