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Shoes are a fantastic idea, and highly overlooked. The biggest hurdle to wearable technology is the friction required to convince a consumer to wear it. We al
by drum 12y ago
Shoes are a fantastic idea, and highly overlooked. The biggest hurdle to wearable technology is the friction required to convince a consumer to wear it. We all wear shoes. We don't all wear glasses or watches. Some of us even wear contacts to avoid wearing glasses. The Smartshoe doesn't seem as competitive to Google Glass as it is complimentary. Glasses have a better appeal for visual media capture because you can see what you're capturing in real time and from a better angle. The Smartshoe could have a better appeal for fitness and GPS use cases. Emphasizing 'smartsole' would probably be a better sell than 'smartshoe' though. Letting consumers stick with their personal fashion choices, i.e. Nike, Vans, is a powerful selling point.
- onion2k 12y agoIt also needs to be useful on a relatively regular basis otherwise there's a dissonance between added value and the additional cost. For these shoes to be useful you need to be walking somewhere you don't know the way to, without someone with you who knows the way with you, for a distance that makes you not want to take your phone out to check you're going the right way occasionally. I don't think I've been in that situation for about 10 years. If you're a courier or a messenger then these would be fantastically useful. For everyone else, they solve a problem no one really has.
- vitoreiji 12y agoYou might have just described backpackers.
- deepGem 12y agoIt's way too expensive for couriers or messengers. Good point though.
- 7952 12y agoI am not sure that people always need to actively navigate when on foot. You just go in the right general direction noticing places you recognise. You could subtly push the user along paths they have taken before and resist unknown paths. With gentle enough vibration and enough use would you even notice the prompting? It would just become a part of your natural navigation instead of the constant nagging of turn by turn.
- bsenftner 12y agoAt destination tourist sites, rent the shoes out (or sell the "tour" software to those who own the shoes) so they can walk the same steps as people of bygone eras while listening to the ambient audio recreating the time period. I can see this as being a huge tourist activity for the historical and location-fan minded type.
- ziel 12y agoWell, just one person here.. but I have this problem fairly regularly, which may be because I live in NYC and frequently go to new places within the city. I'm not sure how large the market would be, but I suspect there are others like me.
- marcosdumay 12y agoShoes are a fantastic idea if the hardware does not degrade its quality. Bad shoes can turn any waking into a nightmare. Much worse than becomming lost and needing to ask for directions.
- rainhacker 12y agoThe shoes connect to smartphone. Even if the shoes have some technical issue, one can still use the phone.