Business News Holding

Tag: wearables

  • Toshiba Launches Application Processor Development Platforms For Wearable And IoT Devices

    Toshiba Launches Application Processor Development Platforms For Wearable And IoT Devices

    toshiba

    Toshiba has rolled out hardware and software development kits (HDK and SDK) for the Toshiba TZ1000 Application Processor Lite (ApP Lite) series of processors for wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Together, the kits allow evaluation of devices in an environment closer to that of their final application. The TZ1000 processor can also be optimized for specific product characteristics, compared with the previous development environment.

    Given the explosive growth of the wearable and IoT markets, customers need to be able to quickly and easily design application processors into their products. Toshiba’s new development platform allows them to do just that, enabling new products with short development cycles.

    The company said it will supply a limited number of reference boards to select IoT device developers free of charge, under certain conditions.

    Three elements make up the TZ1000 development environment:

    • HDK, consisting of a main reference board embedded with a TZ1001MBG processor and a biometric sensor board that measures pulse waves and the heart’s electrical activities;
    • SDK, comprising driver software that controls each component incorporated in the TZ1001MBG, middleware that measures activity and pulse waves, and application software that controls the overall system;
    • supporting software development tools. Examples of supporting development tools available include Keil MDK-ARM and IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM.

    First introduced in 2014, the TZ1000 series of ApP Lite devices integrate a sensor, an ARM Cortex-M4F processor, flash memory and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) controller in one package.

    Also included is a high-resolution ADC that can convert analog signals from external sensors, such as pulse wave and electrocardiogram, into digital data and deliver it to the processor. T

    he single-device solution measures, processes, saves and communicates data required for IoT devices and wearables, operating at low power to enable long battery life.

    ApP Lite
    Toshiba ApP Lite processors enable raw data to be fed to the cloud, and also carry out high-performance and efficient signal processing. They extract necessary data through sensors and image recognition, contributing to a reduced data load.

    The ApP Lite family consists of four series, each optimized for specific applications: TZ1000, TZ2000, TZ3000 and TZ5000.

  • Telsyte: Australia’s smartwatch market to exceed $400M by 2018

    Telsyte: Australia’s smartwatch market to exceed $400M by 2018

    smartwatches

    With some 370,000 smartwatches sold in 2014, Australians are warming to wearable computing with the market poised to exceed $400 million by 2018, according to new research from emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.

    According to Telsyte’s Australian Smartphone & Wearable Devices Market Study 2015, the smartwatch market is expected to grow by at least 50 per cent in 2015 due to the arrival of an Apple Watch.

    Samsung, an early entrant in to the smartwatch market is the current market leader.

    Watch jewellery is a mature market with around 40 per cent (more than 7 million) of Australians (age 16 and above) wearing a watch almost every day. Notwithstanding the challenges, smartwatches have the potential to disrupt the traditional market as people consider wearable devices an extension to their smartphone and apps they use for fitness and communications.

    Telsyte Managing Director Foad Fadaghi says smartwatches will become more appealing to consumers as new stylish and featured devices enter the market, with the 25 to 44 year-old age group representing the best sales opportunity in 2015.

    “There is a lot of anticipation for the Apple smartwatch and our research indicates half of all smart fitness band users are looking to upgrade to a smartwatch, creating a potentially vibrant new product category” Fadaghi says.

    Telsyte research showed that over 800,000 smart wristbands such as those made by Fitbit and Garmin were sold in 2014.

    As with smartphones, consumers consider ease of use, pricing and battery life the most important attributes of smartwatches. Many current smartwatches have been criticised for their short battery life and limited unique usage scenarios.

    Telsyte’s research found the top three applications people want from a smartwatch are to (1) check the time and date (2) use it as an alarm clock or a reminder alert, and (3) read messages, including e-mail.

    Smartphone sales mature as hand-me-down devices shake up the mid-market

    According to Telsyte research, there were 16.8 million smartphone users in Australia at the end of December 2014 with sales of just below 5 million units in the second half of 2014.

    This was around 10 per cent less than Telsyte expected over H2, despite very strong iPhone 6 sales.

    Telsyte Senior Analyst Alvin Lee says the iPhone gained market share in H2 2014, but the overall share trends are likley to change again as an Android-users upgrade cycle in expected to commence in early 2015.

    However, Telsyte has recognised increased competition to Android device by older model iPhones, typically received through a “hand-me-down”.

    “The durability of handsets and the hand-me-down phenomenon is impacting the market, along with a flood of second hand iPhones cutting into sales of mid-tier Android handsets in the second half of 2014,” Lee says.

    Telsyte estimates 1.3 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units sold in Australia last year, with the iPhone 6 outselling the iPhone 6 Plus, at a ratio four to one. Despite this Telsyte believes the demand for phablets or larger form factor smartphones is growing and will represent around a quarter of smartphones in use by 2019.