With only a few shopping weeks left this holiday season, we’re seeing wearable tech all over the news. We’ve had several articles now on wearable tech and how, if they want to make it, they need to be more practical about it. For instance, wearable watches, considering not everyone even wears one anymore -they should probably make sure that the watches they are making are appealing to people as something they would want to wear. That’s the thing about “wearable”. People are wearing this piece on their bodies. It has to be a style that they would actually choose to wear for themselves. Along those lines we have Barneys New York who is rolling out exclusive Intel Smart bracelets designed by Opening Ceremony in December.
Intel enlisted the help of Humberto Leon and Carol Lim to launch these smart bracelets (which will be their first wearable tech device). The smart bracelet is named MICA (which stands for My Intelligent Communication Accessory). Intel also enlisted the help of the CFDA and Barneys New York to link up with the duo.
From a technology standpoint the smart bracelet will have the ability to connect to its wearers’ text messages, email, Facebook events and Google calendar alerts. Many of the same capabilities of a smartphone. The technology in these bracelets focuses more on personal connections though. You can designate VIPs and then receive alerts when they try to reach you. The bracelet also has a “Near You” feature that is based on your location, which can help you find a local coffee shop. It provides access to Yelp searches to find nearby hotspots and more. It also manages your schedule and sends you reminders for events. These bracelets are powered by Intel and TomTom.
From a fashion standpoint, the bracelet is a sure fashion statement. Embedded in jewels it is available in black or white water snakeskin and has pearls from China, Lapis stones from Madagascar, tiger’s eye from South Africa and obsidian from Russia. It’s finished in 18-karat gold coating and the touch screen is a 1.6 inch sapphire glass display.
Interested? Well, it’s still not exactly cheap, but priced better than many wearable tech devices we’ve seen lately. Currently, you can purchase it at $495. Plus, Intel provides a two-year AT&T service plan into the price of the bracelet. You can find it in select Barneys stores, online on Barneys’ website and at Opening Ceremony stores in New York and Los Angeles, as well as Opening Ceremony’s website.
I’m most interested to see how many sell between now and Christmas. Did it work? Did they finally create a wearable device that makes a fashion statement that people actually want to say? Will the tech itself hold up? Also, did they finally price it at a range that people are willing to giving it a try? Leave a comment below and let me know what you’re expecting in the next 6 weeks!
