French Cocorico !

Wearable technology, the Cricet bracelet

Innovative answer to tech-savvy business and event individuals looking for enhanced experience !

What is it ?

To use a wearable technology, first of all, you need a wearable mobile device, such as glasses, lences, a watch...

A wearable device is an electronic device that can be worn and that is capable to connect to the internet. Thus, the device can be connected to networks and interact thanks to data exchanges between the environment and the user.

Wearable technologies are different as they offer the user to make a really personnal use of hardware sensors and software apps.

Wearable technology get developed fastly thanks to the  fast expansion and growing popularity of mobile networks, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi hot spots, applications, and hyper connectivity of users.

All these factors drove the creation of smart watches, web-enabled glasses, intelligent clothes, enhanced-contact lenses..

But, the Google Glasses or the iWatch are already outdated ! Among all the wearable device, one is more interesting than the others.. Your skin ! Yes, in few years, you skin will be your new touchscreen with the Cicret Bracelet !

(Nota: projected images seen are mocked up)

What does it mean for the industry?

In our paper-free system, the Cicret bracelet does not aim to control your heartbeat or your sleeping time but to thrown your smartphone on your forearm.

A French company to change from American big innovators on the market !

At the end of December 2014, this project needed €850.000 to a million to create a prototype to show beginning 2016, for a price varying between  €199 and €399.

-      First of all, it means that the event industry is among the major industries that will encourage innovations in technology. Service related businesses are willing to introduce advanced technology in order to enhance the journey of visitors. But, it also means that our industry has to be proactive more than reactive in front of these evolutions. We think that wearable technologies are meaninfull for event organizers but they have to really understand how it works to make an efficient use of these “magic” tools. Moreover, the idea is not for event organizers  to wait for the technology to be developped but instead, to express their needs and make propositions to technologic corporations in order to develop the technological tools that will help them work more efficiently and provide a better experience to their clients.

As waterproof as your skin can be, it will represent opportunity to be connected at all time (when you wear the device, of course). Under the shower, during your thinking time, you will now be able to use this time efficiently to plan your future event, your future attendance to a venue, manage your guest list etc.

       For the event industry, this new interface is seen as a useful tool to enhance the visitor’s stay. It also improves the capability of event agencies and corporations to gather information about visitors, thus helping them connecting to the visitors and sending them direct and real-time relevant information about their stands, the coming conferences..

      

Wearable technologies are « hands free » technologies. This conveniency they provide to the user is a huge and powerfull argument. Visitors of a trade show or conference organisers need dematerialized information available easily and fastly, everywhere.

The device is also no longer a hinder of operations and natural social interactions. The conference organiser can follow the GPS on his arm and reach fastly and more easily the stand that called him because they did not received their flyers. The visitor can check information about the company he is visiting the stand, or receive push notifications to remind him his planned meetings with exibitors.

 

Wearable technology, hype or opportunity ?

Wearable technologies are not able to offer the same wide range of services as smart phones or tablets. If the visitors already carry one of these two mobile devices, will he be willing to wear another third one ? Not sure

• Hairs, sleeve tatoos, sleeve in clothes... How the device will handle the natural or added skin options ?
• Light bulb will have to be strong as hell to project under the sunlight but then skinburnt and cancer would have to be handled correctly
• How they will handle shadows ? When moving your fingers will avoid see the rest of the screen as the light is projected from one direction
• Can’t project black light
• Brace yourself, skin irritation is coming...
• People fear the company is using the donation to develop only the Cicret application (a safer Whatsapp), an independent app supposed to work with the bracelet but depend on the same donation funding.
• One person only to develop the product, one year to develop it whereas Google and Apple need several people and many years to work on it. The team is composed by a father and a son, Misters Pommier and Fabien Noblet, the supposed developer who has a music diploma
• Scam: with very little percentage of commitment in donation (you can only donate on the official website and not the usual crowdfunding platforms) and can’t stop saying it’s only a prototype lowering the trust of potential consumers

In overall, this Cicret is a very blurred project: financial aspect (donation), “it will comes out soon”, the very small team, the Musician developper, announced suppliers who claim not being part of the project... Let's see what the future holds !

References

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wearable-technology.asp#ixzz47IYuLkNA

https://www.facebook.com/CicretAppandBracelet/

https://usattravel.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/travel-executive-voices-wearables/

https://www.tnooz.com/?s=wearable+technology

http://www.zone-numerique.com/cicret-bracelet-votre-smartphone-sur-votre-avant-bras.html
http://www.erenumerique.fr/le_bracelet_cicret_projette_votre_smartphone_sur_le_bras-article-11540-30.html

http://www.journaldugeek.com/2014/12/05/cicret-le-bracelet-qui-transforme-votre-bras-en-ecran/

http://www.latribune.fr/technos-medias/innovation-et-start-up/20141203trib4f3426608/pourquoi-le-cicret-bracelet-risque-de-ne-jamais-voir-le-jour.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J7GpVQCfms

Will Virtual Reality Offer Future Tourism Marketing Potential?

25th February 2015

What do you think of when you hear the words virtual reality (VR)? As for me (do not laugh too muchJ), before reading this article it was some kind of a clunky helmet attached to a computer with a thick cable. Moreover I did imagine Neo and Morpheus traipsing about the Matrix!)) Yes, yes, a bit silly, but fortunately I have found out that it is a simulated, three-dimensional world which we can manipulate and explore using computer technology while feeling as if he were in that world. Surprisingly but it was first demonstrated in a practical sense in the 1960s. And since that time it has been predicted that we would experience VR operating in everyday life on a regular basis. Let’s have look at nowadays reality.

Today Facebook, Sony, Microsoft are conducting billion dollars acquisition of virtual reality projects and we are expected to see the fruits of these efforts sometime in the next year or so.

There are some already successfully launched technologies of “another world”. For instance, the Google Street View software - travel application with additional reality technology Google Glass which can be used in order to showcase travel-related destinations such as hotels.

Another example of virtual reality has recently presented by the DMO of British Columbia in order to promote the destination through a campaign called “The Wild within”. At the time being, the system Oculus Rift (an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display) is only accessible and used by trade professionals and travel Media. Yet, one can imagine that it will be available for travellers.

To benefit from an incredible 360-degree experience, British Columbia proposes to users to wear the Oculus Rift with headphones. The “Wild within experience” offers two virtual realities:

-                                  = A boat ride

-                                  =  A mountain hike.

Microsoft would also like to launch VR project during 2015. We don’t know yet if the device will be available publicly or just used as a prototype.

HoloLens device developed by Microsoft would allow traveller to visit place they’ve never been before and enjoy popular tourists’ attractions at home.

Australia’s Qantas, an Australian airline, in cooperation with Samsung, will propose a virtual reality technology in Sydney and Melbourne lounges as well as inflight for its first class passengers. Customers will have access to a 3D and 360 degree viewing experience.

Image source: http://skift.com/2015/01/30/qantas-just-made-virtual-reality-in-flight-entertainment-a-reality/#1

These travel related companies shows that VR can be largely used to promote and market a destination.  

However, today there is no guarantee that it will reach public in the foreseeable future. Even famous Google Glass has completely failed to reach a mainstream audience at this point in time. Let’s wait and see if virtual reality devices will integrate in our daily life and change our world. In any case it remains a niche which is able to deliver absorbing content through simulated, three-dimensional world.

More information you can find here http://thinkdigital.travel/opinion/virtual-reality-offers-future-tourism-marketing-potential

And of course you can always contact us: 

Fanny fanny.picarle@skema.edu &

Anastassiya anastassiya.shikhovtseva@skema.edu

And remember: 

"Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality.

If you can drem it, you can make it". 

Ralph Waldo Emerson