Coolpad on Wearables: Not Dead Yet

BARCELONA—Wearables aren't exactly a hot commodity in the US correct now, especially when it comes to Android devices. Despite a profusion of smartwatches and fettle trackers, but a handful of devices can be considered successful (RIP Pebble and Jawbone).

MWC Bug Art Simply Chinese smartphone maker Coolpad, which just teamed upwardly with Qualcomm for the new Snapdragon Clothing platform, conspicuously believes in that location is a future for wearables in the US and elsewhere. At MWC here, we spoke with Brandy Kang, EVP of Coolpad Group and President and CEO of Coolpad America, who sees much of the growth in wearables coming from gadgets for kids, the elderly, and pets.

The smartphone market place is saturated, then carriers are looking to new demographics that will expand their subscriber bases, Kang said. New accounts for kids, the elderly, and pet trackers mean an uptick in subscriber numbers, but not necessarily a huge boost in data consumption.

"Those together, we see in that location's a big potential," Kang said. "Especially in the U.s.a. market."

For consumers, though, new information lines hateful additional costs. Coolpad has considered this problem, and is in give-and-take with carriers. Merely mostly, Kang doesn't believe the lines will stand for every bit much of an boosted cost; maybe several dollars per calendar month. As the number of trackers and wearables increase, it's likely that plans for them will become more competitive.

With the Snapdragon Vesture platform, Coolpad is eyeing LTE connectivity. "Snapdragon 2100 actually is the correct production, based on LTE connectivity, to provide the high-speed data, new functions similar the voice over LTE. Apart from that, we also can bring the features like the real-time tracking, geo-fencing, and other special features based on a different demographic."

Of class, when it comes to any habiliment for children or other sensitive populations, security is an extra concern; Kang said Coolpad'south devices, the apps, and the information on the cloud are ecured, and the data transmission protocols between them are encrypted and secured. "We're a COPPA-certified company," he said, referring to the Children'south Online Privacy Protection Human activity.

Asked where Coolpad as a whole is headed outside wearables, Kang pointed to developments in AI and 5G. "[W]e are heavily invested on the 5G, so I think in 2022 we're going to bring more 5G network devices to the market place, especially to Usa market.

With its investments in wearables, along with the upcoming investments in AI and 5G, Coolpad could be set to brand its mark on the U.s. market place in the coming years.