By Han Joo-yeob powerusr@ddaily.co.kr
Digital Daily

Samsung Electronics will soon release a new wearable mobile device, which will succeed its smart wristwatch, ‘Galaxy Gear.’

Samsung’s Wireless Business Division is developing the ‘Galaxy Band (tentative name),’ which is a mobile device in the form of an arm band that can be worn around the wrist. The company is expected to release the device during the first quarter of 2014, possibly prior to the Mobile World Congress (MWC) to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in February.

The Galaxy Band is focused on health care. It monitors in real time physical activities of the user with various sensors that can monitor pressure, temperature, humidity and motions based on the micro electro mechanical system (MEMS), and offers related information. The device serves diverse functions, ranging from the most basic function as a pedometer to a device measuring physical activities and even to route guidance. The Galaxy Band is connectable to the smartphones and tablets in Samsung’s Galaxy series using Bluetooth.

An industry source said, “Samsung Electronics has set up a plan to develop and release diverse wearable devices such as the Galaxy Gear and the Galaxy Band, which are connected or compatible with its smartphones and tablets.” It is part of the strategy for seeking a new source of revenue when the market of smartphones is not growing as fast any more, he said.

In fact, Samsung Electronics is preparing for an ‘age of wearable’ at company level. The Samsung Open Innovation Center, located in the Silicon Valley, is carrying out a project to develop the ‘Samsung Architecture for Multimodal Interactions (SAMI),’ an open software platform that integrates sensor technologies for data acquisition, situation awareness, context analysis, voice recognition and voice guidance. Luc Julia, who was part of the development team responsible for Apple’s voice assistant Siri, has moved to Samsung and is overseeing the SAMI project.

Samsung Electronics plans to adopt an open model to allow the manufacturers of IoT (Internet of Things) devices, including the wearable, freely take advantage of the SAMI technology. Samsung has the goal of SAMI becoming an industry standard.