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30% of wearable tech will be invisible by 2017

A new report suggests a healthy chunk of wearable tech will be hidden from view by 2017.

In three years time, Gartner reveals, around 30 per cent of ‘smart wearables will be unobtrusive to the eye.’

This means that unlike Google Glass or the LG G Watch R, the next generation of wearables will take up a more subtle position on your body.

Annette Zimmermann, Gartner’s research director, said: “Already, there are some interesting developments at the prototype stage that could pave the way for consumer wearables to blend seamlessly into their surroundings.”

“Smart contact lenses are one type in development. Another interesting wearable that is emerging is smart jewellery,” continued Zimmermann.

She added: “There are around a dozen crowdfunded projects competing right now in this area, with sensors built into jewellery for communication alerts and emergency alarms.”

The report also outed Gartner’s estimation that somewhere around 25 million head-borne display units will have been sold by 2018.

It did note however, that manufacturers would first need to find solutions for privacy and security concerns, as well as developing platform-appropriate software.

This sits well with earlier crystal ball gazing from Juniper Research that suggested over 100 million people would be using smartwatches by 2019, forecasting massive uptake in the wearable market.

Read More: Apple Watch release date

Via: Wearable

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