Qualcomm Inc., which makes chips used in the Samsung watch phone, believes that such small wireless devices will become increasingly common in the next few years, said Luis Pineda, a vice president of product management for Qualcomm. Eventually, he said, consumers will demand a variety of communications devices to choose from. Some may handle only a single function such as voice calling. Others may combine two or more functions, such as calling and paging or e-mail and a calendar. Researchers at Bell Laboratories, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies, anticipate that consumers will quickly accept small communications devices.
Watches are something that, by their nature, people are accustomed to wearing.
Anything that makes it easier and more comfortable to use is a plus, he said. Gary Elko, a technical manager at Bell Labs, said that wireless watches are just the beginning. I think we're finally reaching a point where all these science-fiction ideas are possible. Jon Prial, director of marketing and strategy for IBM Corp.'s pervasive computing division, said that small wireless devices are filling a need for people to be both mobile and connected. People don't want to carry a lot of single-function devices, so there will be a convergence of various functions into fewer and fewer gizmos, Prial said.