The smart wearable industry has been given a boost with news that one of Warren Buffet’s companies, Richline, will be launching a wearable company called Ela. The company will initially focus on a line of Smart bracelets, but they expect to experiment with other form factors, including…wait for it…Smart Rings!
We here at BSR, are certainly excited at the prospect at one of the world’s pre-eminent investors choosing to invest his substantial resources into the Smart Ring sector.
Whilst the Ela website doesn’t offer much information (in fact, no information), other press releases reveal that the Ela product offering will be of the highest quality. The company will launch 4 bracelets, featuring Italian marble quartz stones and 18-karat gold. We can therefore expect that any smart ring venture will be equally as high end.
As far as getting an insight into the philosophy behind the new venture, we can look to Product Innovation manager at Richline, Cliff Ulrich, who has stated, “We’re focusing on a different customer…someone who wants to continue to wear jewellery … and feel more connected to people in their lives.”
For their initial offering, they’ll be using Bluetooth to connect with an Android and iOS app, including functions like step tracking. However, they will also be including a capability to share photos or songs, in what they’re calling “memories”. It would be interesting to see whether this turns out to be a success and whether the technology would spread to other form factors.
Ela will be launching via Amazon sometime this April, with products ranging from $195-$295. How long will it be before we see an Ela Smart Ring in their product line?
Until we find out the answer to that question, the mere fact that such a business giant is taking this step into the smart wearable domain and talking in language we love to hear, is a very, very good thing.
We’ll be watching Ela closely.
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