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In Search of the Next Boom, Developers Cram Their Apps into Smart Watches
Clever apps might persuade people that they need a wrist-worn computer.
The age of wearable computing is upon us. Forget the debate over how
capable or fashionable the first devices are, how popular they may eventually
[5] become, or even whether we fully understand what we’re getting into with these
devices. The big question is simply: what will they do? And the answer will have
much to do with the apps that emerge.
Both hardware makers and software developers hope that wearables, like
the smartphone, tablet, and television, will become a new platform for application
[10] development. The two most promising platforms are the headset and the smart
watch. But while the only viable headset is Google’s still-in-beta Glass, smart
watches and smart watch apps have arrived. These early smart watches may
also help clarify what does and doesn’t work for software development in the broader emerging category of
wearable technology.
[15] Samsung is launching the Galaxy Gear, which runs a modified version of the Android smartphone
operating system, with a small group of third-party application developers, both to work out the kinks in its
software application programming interface, and to establish best practices for app development. One of
Samsung’s launch partners for Galaxy Gear is Runkeeper, which has already developed a popular fitness
application for smartphones and for the Pebble smart watch.
[20] Nine months ago, Runkeeper began working with Samsung on apps for other devices. Runkeeper’s
CEO, Jason Jacobs, compares this generation of smart watches to the first tablet computers. “As with any
new category that emerges, it’s a question getting to know the category and figuring out what the use cases
are,” he says. For the Galaxy Gear, Runkeeper is following Samsung’s and Pebble’s approach of using the
smart watch as a companion for the smartphone. This approach will affect the way apps are designed.
[25] “It’s not a replacement for the app on the phone,” says Jacobs of the Runkeeper app for the Galaxy
Gear. “It’s a remote control so you can keep your phone in your pocket, can start and stop without pulling
your phone out. It’s the same data, the same application, but changes the experience to make it less intrusive.”
Jacobs believes some unexpected ways of using smart watches will emerge as apps appear. “No one
really imagined that doctors would use tablets as they made their rounds,” says Jacobs. “The skeptics who
[30] say ‘no one would ever use that’ [about smart watches] are some of the same people who said they would
never use a laptop without a keyboard.”
Pocket’s founder and CEO Nate Weiner acknowledges that a smart-watch screen is limited. “This
device is not for long periods in which a person is looking at their watch to consume content,” he says. “We
weren’t going to just drop a Pocket list on there and assume people would want to read or watch a video on
[35] their watch for a long period of time.”
This may be a veiled jab at Google Glass, but it’s also part of our expectations for a wristwatch:
besides being relatively hands-free, the appeal of checking time, weather, or notifications on a smart watch
is that it’s quick, natural, and discreet. Ideally, third-party applications will follow the same approach.
By Tim Carmody, Technology Review published by MIT, 25/09/2013
Adapted from http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519541/in-search-of-the-next-boom-developers-cram-their-appsinto-smart-watches/
O pronome “they”, destacado na linha 30, refere-se a
