Laura Kassovic has a vision for designing game changing wearables so if you are in the market or about to be then listen up. Laura is CEO of MbientLab and has her first Kickstarter under her belt; the MetaWear Bluetooth development platform:
Laura and one of her co-founders, Yu Suo came into the Silicon Valley ARMplex this week to talk about Apps, APIs, ecosystems and wearables. Talking with Laura and Yu we got a window into the world of wearables and just how much is happening in that nascent market. Wearables is another of those categories like IoT that defy simple description, is it fitness, health or safety? Is it on the body, in your clothing or in a ball? To Laura and Yu its immaterial, if you need to connect that sensor to your smartphone via Bluetooth then they can make it happen for you.
What’s amazing about sitting down with folks like Laura and Yu is how complicated “simple” really is behind the API. Laura earned her stripes at a major semiconductor company working on complex bus interfaces so she knows what it takes to get data across systems and at very low power. The MbientLab business model is to help you get your creative and innovative product to market as fast as possible with a simple API and the right firmware for your application. So no matter whether its smart jewelry, an SOS trigger, concussion alerts or calorie counting the MbientLab team will get you optimized and delivering customer value fast. Here Laura and Yu show us their latest Bluetooth low energy modules based on a Nordic Semiconductor chip with an ARM Cortex-M0 on board:
Just as ARM is an enabling technology company I see MbientLab in the same way, they help anyone wanting to bring a wearable product to market faster, and a maker of makers might be one way to put it.
What’s your experience with Bluetooth LE in the wearables market?