Wearables are back! The Question is: Will these Mobile Innovations Stick Around?

Do you recall the Motorola Oakley O’ROKR™ or the Motorola Burton Audex Jackets? I do as I was an intern at Motorola during the heyday of the RAZR™. Besides all the neat innovations from the mobile devices teams, the cellular phone accessories teams were up to their own innovations, wearables. The O’ROKRs are sunglasses and Bluetooth headset combined so you can wirelessly take phone calls and listen to music. The Audex Jackets have the same Bluetooth functionality for calls and stereo-music while keeping you warm.

Even with all the hype, the hip brands, and tech headlines, the Motorola wearables had a brief moment in the spotlight and faded into the static. This happened for a few reasons and one being that aside from the early adopters, the consumer marketplace as a whole was far from ready to embrace these innovative devices. Nearly a decade later, wearables are resurfacing with even more functionality than Bluetooth capabilities for phone calls and stereo-music. One example is Google Glass, which is all about social engagement.

At the end of the day, what do Google Glass and other wearables that combine augmented reality, 3D visualization, and location-based services mean for business? What’s real and what’s hype when it comes to some of the latest mobile innovations? Does the social component that earlier wearables lacked give Google Glass and the like staying power? So many questions! SAP’s upcoming Mobile Insights webinar explores the topic. If you are interested, register here.

What are your thoughts?