DRESS FOR TECH SUCCESS – MAYBE

What must it take for a wearable tech to take off?

It has to do something practical, useful or fun.

Maybe it’s charging your phone. Maybe it’s counting calories or monitoring sleep. It may be a lot of things, or it may be only one or two. But if it doesn’t make the consumer’s life simpler or more convenient, why bother? Early smart watches serve as companions to the smartphones in our pockets and convey information — who’s calling, who’s sending Facebook notifications or e-mails — which isn’t that difficult to uncover by pulling out the phone itself, just as we’ve always done. Is that enough?

It must be comfortable.

This one goes without saying. If we’re going to wear it, it can’t be any more intrusive than a regular wristwatch, bracelet, sweater or earring. Ditto for eyewear.

You can’t look like a geek wearing it.

Another no-brainer. Fashion counts as much as the technology. “No one wants to look like an idiot wearing this thing,” says Sean Ebersold, CEO of EnergyBionics.

You can’t fret about the battery.

I don’t know if solar power is the answer, but the thing has to last days if not weeks without a charge, and charging itself has to be easy. This is a toughie. Because of the small-form factor of a smart watch, for example, manufacturers have often gone with proprietary charging solutions. Yikes, just one more cable to keep track of.

It has to be affordable.

Need more be said?