Intel Stands Alone In Pole Position In The Developing Wearables Marketplace
APX Labs CEO Brian Ballard predicts that enterprise deployments will rapidly grow from the dozens to the thousands as wearables reach a greater level of maturity and market acceptance.Ballard predicts that wearables will replace the smartphone as the key driver of hardware development in the technology sector.Several manufacturing partners demoed and announced wearable devices featuring Intel inside during CES 2016.CES 2016 kicked off on January 6th in Las Vegas and concluded <b>Ray Ban Outlet</b> on January 9th. The event was filled with new gadgets from drones to smart cars, but some of the most exciting offerings were associated with virtual reality and augmented reality. CES also provides an opportunity for consumer electronics companies to gage the competitive landscapes, view competitor products up close as well as network with key decision makers. The annual CES event is an incredible forum for companyies to announce new partnerships and orders to raise awareness and create excitement within a company's respective industry.One exciting announcement made last week was made by Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) alongside Oakley, a Luxottica owned company (NYSE:LUX). The collaborative Smart Sun Glasses product is expected to arrive in consumer hands by late 2016. Image SourceClick to enlargeAnother exciting augmented reality product was announced by Intel and Daqri. The Daqri Smart Helmet is <b>Ray Ban Outlet Online</b> expected to provide x ray like vision using its RealSense 3D camera. The collaborative smart helmet will be available for purchase during the first quarter of 2016.The Daqri Smart Helmet Image SourceIt's still very early in the augmented reality adoption curve, but if I had to crown a tech giant that is well positioned to be a clear cut winner at this stage in the game it would be Intel. Intel is working diligently behind the scenes to establish a market for augmented reality and virtual reality hardware. Intel investors are well aware that the company missed the boat on smartphones and now the company is working with smart glass industry pioneers.Intel acquired Recon Instruments in June 2015. But despite owning a manufacturer of smart glasses already Intel remains actively engaged with several prominent companies including Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Luxottica to bring smart glasses to the market. Intel struck a deal with Luxottica in December 2014 to establish a "multi year R collaboration to fuse premium, luxury and sports eye wear with smart technology," according to the press release.Luxottica may not be well known in the world of technology hardware, but the company will play a key role in developing a market for wearable smart glasses within the augmented reality space. Luxottica's eye wear brands include Coach, Oakley, Ray Ban, Versace as well as several other household names. Luxottica also controls a key part of the future smart glass consumer ecosystem known as the retail network. Luxottica retail network includes over 7,000 stores worldwide and includes Lenscrafters, Sunglass Hut and Pearle Vision (Source Luxottica Website). Intel and Luxottica's consumer centric fashion smart glasses are expected to make a debut sometime in 2016.In order for a new technology such as wearable smart glasses to be accepted by consumers there needs to be a product that is fashionable and specific to consumer use cases. The smart glass market has two main verticals, which are consumers and industrial applications. The most promising near term opportunity is within industrial applications, but consumer smart glass product offerings are not far behind.Bullish predictions for smartglasses and wearable computing from leading research agencies have been around for several years. Gartner in late 2013 predicted that smart glasses would save the field service area up to $1 billion annually by 2018 through diagnosing and fixing problems. Heavy manufacturing along with oil and gas were two industries that Gartner believed would be the most impacted by smart glasses. Compass Intelligence in June 2015 published a report predicting business/enterprise wearables would grow at a 139% CAGR between 2014 and 2019 with revenue exceeding $8.5 billion in the US alone.At this stage in the game hardware manufacturers, integrators, chip manufacturers, smart glass frame manufacturers and application developers are all working closely together. Industrial work forces and IT departments are busy evaluating specific use cases for smart glasses as well as addressing security risks that come with another connected device at the workplace.The industry adoption curve of smart glasses for industrial applications is very difficult to gage. One of the most effective ways to gage the industry is to look closely at <b>Ray Ban Outlet Online</b> companies that are working with all of the major players (manufacturers, suppliers, integrators and software developers) in <b>Ray Ban Outlet</b> the industry. One company that fits the bill is privately held APX Labs.APX Labs partners include smart glass hardware manufacturers such as Google, Vuzix (NASDAQ:VUZI), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Epson. APX Labs' partners also include key integrators that work with customers to effectively roll out smart glass solutions into the field including SAP, Deloitte and Accenture (NYSE:ACN). APX Labs also partners with several software solution developers.According to a recent interview with TechCrunch in November 2015 APX Labs investors include GE Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. APX Labs customers include six of the Fortune 10 as well as dozens of other companies including General Electric (NYSE:GE).In other words, APX Labs has a working relationship with several major players in the augmented reality industry. APX Labs is in the trenches with some of the largest companies in the world to roll out Skylight, a smart glass vendor solution for smart glasses. Fudzilla is a media outlet that provides extensive coverage on technology news including CES 2016.Some key color provided by Brian Ballard related to APX Labs' 2016 Predictions for wearables technology, is below:We project that 18 percent of industrial companies will implement a combined solution involving smart glasses and/or smart watches tied to live data feeds from IoT sensors and industrial machines in 2016.Wearable technologies such as smart glasses are the next step, representing the next generation human machine interface and the key to a truly smart factory by enabling the most efficient delivery of information to the connected workforce.We predict that enterprise deployments will rapidly grow from the dozens to the thousands as wearables reach a greater level of maturity and market acceptance. Overall we predict a six fold growth in the number of production wearable users in 2016, with a third of that coming from companies getting their first deployments online and two thirds of that from companies growing and expanding their use cases.We predict that wearables will replace the smartphone as the key driver of hardware development in the technology sector.Nick Farrell's full write up from his interview with Brian Ballard can be found here. A full copy of APX Labs' Wearable Tech Predictions for 2016 can be downloaded from the company's website and the 10 page document is worth a read for investors interested in the industry adoption of wearable technology.