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.” (more…)
Read More:
In the Details: Making a Smart Ring That Women Would Actually Want to Wear
