Devices and accessories are getting smarter and lighter by the day. There was a time when we needed heavy hardware for even basic calculations. Now, we can do so much more with just a cool wearable device.
And in this era of wearables, there’s one piece of jewellery that’s up for disruption.
Yes, you guessed it right: wedding rings.
An integral part of many folklores and the beginning of every happily ever after, rings are now becoming an important object in the world of tech. Something that can even revolutionise the space of contactless payment.
Japanese health and beauty retailer MTG has developed EVERING.
The ring comes embedded with a chip. This chip will respond to radio waves at the flick of a wrist and Ta-Da! payment done. And, not just payments. The ring will also serve as a replacement for keys to houses, cars, and everything that comes with a lock.
MTG started selling smart rings back in 2012.
At that time, the rings only served as an authentication device for smartphones and for opening door locks. Over time, the company innovated and launched Evering in 2020. They have also made a deal with Visa for selling 3,000 Everings, retailing at $130. This means transactions with Evering will be Visa enabled.
Interestingly, Visa had conducted a pilot for smart rings way back in the Olympics of 2016.
Now, Visa’s nemesis, MasterCard surely wouldn't keep quiet, right? And so, K Ring powered by MasterCard was launched around the same time.
Smart rings are exploding for other use cases as well. Oura is a smart ring in the health-tech space that tracks a range of data points to assess the quality of one’s life and health. The company is valued at $800 million and was featured in “Time 100 Best Inventions of 2020”.
Amazon also tried entering the space with Echo Loops. It was like Alexa. But it turned out to be a dud. Its sales did not pick up and Amazon soon stopped selling them. Maybe it failed because it wasn’t really solving any problem. Alexa was everywhere already. Was putting it on the ring really required?
We can ask the same question for smart rings in fintech. We already have a range of options for contactless payments. For instance, e-wallets such as GooglePay are already a huge hit.
Will the marriage of Rings and Tech last happily ever after, or will it turn out to be just a fling? Only time will tell. Until then, read on.
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