2009 seems to be signaling the arrival of a wrist watch with a built in GPS. A wrist watch with GPS is an excellent idea for hikers, climbers and sailors as it is lightweight and very portable. But this new invention is just a start for future watches.
Watch manufacturers have traditionally had no difficulty selling their models and brands of traditional watches, however with the advent of iPods, laptops, mobile phones and every other piece of gadgetry that is on the market, the wrist watch is finding itself surplus to requirement - why buy a watch to tell the time when you could buy a PDA that does that and allows you surf the web?
Being aware of this, watch makers are looking for new ways to entice consumers to purchase wrist watches, and one way of doing so is to combine state of the art technology with the time pieces. At first, watches were given the additions of thermometers, barometers, stop watches and timers, but now they are moving into a more ‘high-tech’ arena. Global positioning satellites within watches are one move that producers are taking, but there is no reason to think it will stop there. How about watches that you can play music through, or even watch videos? I doubt it will be long before these are common place and available to buy at reasonable prices.
With consumer buying behaviour changing, watch makers are having to change alongside them or risk diminishing sales and loss of profits. If anyone has any good ideas as to what elements should be combined with watches, post your suggestions here.
