Published on the 09/04/2014 | Written by Newsdesk

This Friday, the new Samsung Galaxy S5 Smartphone will be available in New Zealand, along with its fully integrated Gear wearables range of smartwatches, and is being touted as a ‘life companion’, putting an emphasis on health and wellbeing. Both the smartphone and smartwatch are dustproof, waterproof and offer a comprehensive personal fitness tracker with a built-in heart-rate monitor and pedometer. The new smartphone can be paired using bluetooth with the next generation Gear smartwatches for real-time fitness coaching amongst other features on the smartwatch including email, text and call notifications; music, and, in the case of the Gear 2, the ability to receive calls and use it as a TV remote on any smart TV.

Deloitte has forecast that 10 million “wearable” computers will be sold this year – representing a market of $US3 billion. Apple, however, has remained noticeably absent from the wearables market so far, although rumours about the so-called iWatch abound. Marco Tabini yesterday on Macworld wrote: “Despite the frenzied doomsday predictions from analysts, Apple hasn’t made any noise about a new device in this space. CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly indicated that, while Apple is interested in the market, it’s nowhere mature enough for the company to wade in – yet.”

Currently the Samsung Gear smartwatches do not function as entirely standalone products, requiring a bluetooth tether for their GPS and communications technology (unlike the Nike SportWatch which has standalone GPS). That said, the wearables impressed at a recent media briefing attended by iStart where we participated in a spot of boxing  wearing the styish Gear which recorded heart-rate, calories burnt and steps taken.

While most smart glasses, fitness bands and smartwatches are currently consumer-focused, iStartreported in February that Deloitte predicts 2014 is the year when wearable technology starts to percolate the enterprise. Stuart Johnston, national head of Deloitte’s TMT practice in Australia said at the time that the application of wearables in the enterprise were the “untold story for 2014”. The US police force and Westpac New Zealand are both already trialling the Google Glass. The inclusion of the heart-rate monitor, communications, and dustproof and waterproof capabilities on Samsung’s new Gear significantly increases the potential applications of wearables in the enterprise, and probably also the trades.

Samsung’s local head of telecommunications, Stefan Lecchi, said that for the first time Samsung would be releasing simultaneously across Telecom, Vodafone and 2Degrees in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Apple has begun to outline its $US2.2 billion damages claim against Samsung Electronics to a Californian jury for alleged patent infringement. Apple is demanding compensation for lost sales and royalites as a result of Samsung’s smartphone and tablet sales between August 2011 and the end of 2013.