As innovations has shown us, it seems as if an upcoming step for the world of technology is the creation of devices which the user can wear.  From my analysis, the main barrier to entry for these companies is marketing the product to make it appealing to the consumer. It seems like people are willing to accept the new technology, however they won’t be caught dead wearing a silly pair of high-tech glasses such as Google Glass.  

The company, Jawbone, known for their high quality Bluetooth headsets, recently launched a new product known as the Up. It is similar to Google Glass in respect to the fact that both products record data from the user’s day-to-day life. However, the advantage Jawbone has over Google is the fact that their product is a subtle and stylish bracelet which is more appealing to consumers. It is common for users to sacrifice incredibly useful features to obtain a less efficient product that looks nicer. This is explains the concept that if producers want to succeed in the wearable technology market, they must make their product aesthetically pleasing as well as inventive product’s features.

Main Citation:

Brownlee, John. “The Invisible Future Of Wearables.” Co.Design 2 Oct. 2013. Fast Company. 07 Oct. 2013 <http://www.fastcodesign.com/3019157/innovation-by-design-conference/the-invisible-future-of-wearables-according-to-jawbone>.

Supporting Citations:

Boag, Paul. “Time to get Healthy.” Web log post. Boagworld Complete. 27 Apr. 2013. 07 Oct. 2013 <http://boagworld.com/working-in-web/time-to-get-healthy/>.

Standish, Maude. “Data Is The New Astrology.” The Huffington Post 25 Apr. 2013. TheHuffingtonPost.com. 07 Oct. 2013 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maude-standish/data-is-the-new-astrology_b_3150148.html>.

In correlation with recent events, BlackBerry is currently being sued by thousands of shareholders because of misleading information in relation to the company’s future. After, the company took a quick turn downhill its shareholders claim that they were not given sufficient warning in regards to the company’s financial state. My analysis shows that BlackBerry’s alleged fraudulent financial accounting was most likely due to pressure from the competitive smartphone market. iPhones and Android smartphones are becoming increasingly popular while the necessity for a exclusive business phone is decreasing. This is proven by the recent activity in the stock price and business practices of Blackberry.The company’s stock price closed today at 7.69 which is 4.23% lower than it was 5 days ago and 25% lower than it was less than a month ago. Blackberry also laid off 40% of its employees and claimed a billion dollars in loses from the launch of its new Z10 smartphone. This seems to be a good indicator that the company is doing everything in its power from going bankrupt. This begs the question if the company was intentionally producing false indicators of its financial state to desperately stay competitive in the smartphone industry.

Orginal Article:

“BlackBerry hit by shareholder lawsuit claiming company misled investors.” The Guardian05 Oct. 2013. Guardian News and Media Limited. 07 Oct. 2013 <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/05/blackberry-shareholder-lawsuit-investors>.

Additional Resources:

LUBBEN, STEPHEN J. “The Bankruptcy Question for BlackBerry.” The New York Times – DealBook 24 Sept. 2013. The New York Times. 07 Oct. 2013 <http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/the-bankruptcy-question-for-blackberry/?_r=0>.

Tsukayama, Hayley. “BlackBerry nixes earnings call in light of sale; T-Mobile stops selling the handsets in stores.” Washington Post 26 Sept. 2013. The Washington Post. 07 Oct. 2013 <http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-26/business/42409224_1_blackberry-z10-blackberry-platform-t-mobile>.

Twitter was a concept that was before its time. It became a successful SMS-based social network by entering the mobile industry when other companies didn’t notice the opportunity. By taking the approach of targeting the mobile industry before moving towards computers, Twitter was able to compete against other social network companies such as Facebook. Twitter distinguished itself by allowing users to message one’s thoughts out for anyone who is interested to hear. On the other hand, Facebook intended to have their followers leave a social legacy of their time spent on Facebook, while at the same time, give their users the ability to interact with others doing the same thing. They accomplish this by integrating more tools and methods for users to share their stories. This is why Facebook became increasingly more popular whereas Twitter wasn’t able to keep up nearly to the same extent of Facebook. To my understanding, Facebook showed innovation and adaptation to the the fast changes of the social media world. Twitter has stayed fairly static in what they offer to the user. Is it possible that users are growing tired of the blandness that Twitter is becoming? Could this explain their decline in marginal growth. 

Perez, Sarah. “The Potential And Pitfalls Of Twitter’s Mobile Business.” TechCrunch RSS. AOL Tech, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/05/the-potential-and-pitfalls-of-twitters-mobile-business/>.