Last April, we wrote about Logbar’s Ring, a smart-jewelry concept that aims to provide gesture control of a host of smartphone apps (and that raised more than $880,000 dollars on Kickstarter). But Logbar is hardly the only company competing for this wearables niche. In June, Ringly announced a pre-sale for its own smartphone-connected ring, and hit its sales goal of $60,000 in just eight hours. Clearly, some people really want a smart ring.
Where Ring promises magic wand–style controls, Ringly is more about discreet notifications. The company’s CEO, Christina Mercando, came up with the idea for the device after missing a series of important calls, messages and appointments. “I started asking around and noticing other women having similar problems," she says, “so I set out to create a solution that I was also proud to wear."
Through colleagues at her previous employer, the collective-intelligence startup Hunch, Mercando was introduced to Logan Munro, an MIT-educated engineer who became Ringly’s co-founder. Together, they worked on creating a device that was, first and foremost, aesthetically pleasing. “The entire idea around Ringly was to create technology that was small and discreet and incorporate it into beautiful jewelry and accessories," Mercando says. “We wanted people to fall in love with the design first and then get excited about what it can do."
0 Comment "In the Details: Making a Smart Ring That Women Would Actually Want to Wear"
Post a Comment