Oura looks to gestures
Oura has acquired Doublepoint, a Finnish-based startup that specializes in gesture recognition. Currently, Doublepoint focuses on smartwatches and wristbands as the base of its gesture recognition, but clearly Oura is looking to integrate that tech into a smaller, ring device. Oura says that the next gen of wearable AI-powered devices will use a combination of gesture and voice control so this is clearly a step towards that direvction.
The Circana Take:
- Gesture control is an interesting future addition that is not necessarily required for a standalone ring. Rather, it feels like a step towards ensuring Oura is ready for a smart glasses world where a ring can become the controller for the glasses.
- Oura says it sees a voice (and gesture) first world. We agree. AI-infused voice is going to be more effective in most situations than small screens in glasses. They too have their place, but not as the primary interface we believe. There are voice-focused rings rolling into the market but our money is still on either smart glasses or some variation of headphones as the core voice conduit.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite
At MWC last week, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon Wear Elite. It’s a chipset that enables billion-parameter AI models to run on-device… and by device, we do not necessarily mean a phone. Rather, this new chipset is for what Qualcomm is calling the “Ecosystem of You”, allowing AIU to move from your phone to watches, AI Pins (yes, they are not yet dead) and other devices.
The Circana Take:
- The “Ecosystem of You” takes me back to the early wearable days, when the goal was to wear multiple devices – smartwatch, smart shirt, jewelry and more – to “quantify” yourself. The idea very quickly coalesced to a smart watch that can do most things. But the smartwatch market is becoming saturated and vendors are looking for new form factors. Add to that the arrival of consumer AI and suddenly wearables look as though they could become a stronger form factor for AI-infused help and ideas.
- Of course, for this to really work, you still need a cellular connection which means – possible – the smartphone… or does the smartwatch emerge as a true cellular-connected alternative in a world of AI and voice control?