Wireless News
11-21-2013, 04:47 PM
Each week Ross Rubin (http://twitter.com/rossrubin) contributes Switched On (http://www.engadget.com/tag/switchedon?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&ncid=rss_semi&utm_campaign=Engadget), a column about consumer technology.
http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/adam/c4aafb05e55b5a76935e3ed2760ba5e/filip.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/a-wristed-development/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&ncid=rss_semi&utm_campaign=Engadget)It is difficult enough to turn around one niche product category and make it successful, as Apple did with the iPad. But combining two marketplace failures is almost certainly a recipe for disaster. FiLIP, the new kid-tracker, is part connected watch, part smartphone. Prior attempts to optimize these devices for children -- or at least for the parents who want their kids to wear them -- haven't been well received. On the wristwear side, there was the Wherify Wireless watch, a monstrous wrist-locked GPS device. It was so optimized for the kidnapper-concerned that it sent an alarm message over the cellular network if it was removed without authorization.
Filed under: Misc (http://www.engadget.com/category/misc/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget)
Comments (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/a-wristed-development/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&ncid=rss_semi&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments)
More... (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/a-wristed-development/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi)
http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/adam/c4aafb05e55b5a76935e3ed2760ba5e/filip.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/a-wristed-development/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&ncid=rss_semi&utm_campaign=Engadget)It is difficult enough to turn around one niche product category and make it successful, as Apple did with the iPad. But combining two marketplace failures is almost certainly a recipe for disaster. FiLIP, the new kid-tracker, is part connected watch, part smartphone. Prior attempts to optimize these devices for children -- or at least for the parents who want their kids to wear them -- haven't been well received. On the wristwear side, there was the Wherify Wireless watch, a monstrous wrist-locked GPS device. It was so optimized for the kidnapper-concerned that it sent an alarm message over the cellular network if it was removed without authorization.
Filed under: Misc (http://www.engadget.com/category/misc/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget)
Comments (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/a-wristed-development/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&ncid=rss_semi&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments)
More... (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/a-wristed-development/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi)