If there are any topics I think will be prominent in the Bluetooth® technology conversations this year, they are smart home, beacons, and wearables. You can read my beacon and smart home blogs. This one focuses on wearables…because they are hot, or cold, depending on what you are designing.

While many people look at wearables simply as a “smart watch,” I think that is a myopic view. Wearables encompass so much more, from shoes to shorts to glasses and everything in between. Wearables not only transform the human body into a living sensor pack, but also as the ultimate human/device interaction model.

Everyone seems to feel this market is going to be massive. IHS Global Insights predicts a $30 billion market for wearables by 2018. There are some issues in getting this market to open up. In a good read by Bloomberg on the overall market for wearables, Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics LLC, opines on what he sees as some of the obstacles.

“We are right now in the Gold Rush phase of wearables — everybody heard there’s some gold and is rushing in, but hasn’t found it yet…There are hundreds of companies that are trying to do this.” He said weight and battery life has been the main obstacles in creating viable wearable devices.

This is where Bluetooth Smart technology comes in. The size of ICs and SOCs with Bluetooth Smart radios is tiny and getting smaller every day. TDK recently released into production the world’s smallest Bluetooth Smart module. The amount of energy these types of modules consume is extremely small, allowing for amazing battery life. One day not too far away, these Bluetooth Smart wearables will operate on scavenged energy (like thermal or kinetic) generated from the body itself, making the need for a separate battery obsolete.

With this market taking off, it’s no wonder developer events in the space are also taking off. This marks the first year of WearablesDevCon. The Bluetooth SIG’s own Vincent Gao will be presenting a session on Bluetooth technology in wearables. He will be using commercial devices (watches, wristbands, etc.) to show people the teardown of the software services for Bluetooth communication. In a shameless plug, if you use his last name (GAO) when registering, you will save $200.

I believe 2014 is going to be a banner year for interesting technologies and for Bluetooth Smart. Wearables will be one spearhead in this great wave of opportunity. Get ready for a fun ride!

As always, let me know what you are working on at DevFeedback@bluetooth.com. I always love to hear from you! Don’t forget to get your solution highlighted in the Developer Showcase or the App of the Month by emailing a short description to devAOM@bluetooth.com.

(Credit: Steve Hegenderfer)