A WEDDING RING IS SUFFICIENT:

The sweet spot for wearables today is utility. There's a stunning array of range of fitness devices that provide a flood of data like heartbeat, calories burned, perspiration, movement, distance, location, more.

While the data itself might be interesting at first, people purchase those products to make a meaningful difference in their lives; to become healthier, fitter, better rested, happier. As Aaron Filner, a product manager at Facebook told me, "If a device doesn't help someone change their behavior, how long will they keep using it? It needs to make a difference to be valuable over the long term."

That is where design thinking comes in. Approaching wearables from the point of view of the outcome we want to achieve and the meaning we want to deliver allows us to move beyond utility and start thinking about the emotional connection and value users will actually place on them. Fields such as behavioral economics and behavior modification also have as much to contribute to the product as traditional industrial and interaction design.

As wearable technology is designed to achieve positive outcomes for the long term, companies' business models need to adapt accordingly. For example: If the value comes from the service rather than the one-time device purchase, we could see free devices bundled with annual contracts or with an ecosystem of other services (such as nutrition counseling or fitness and lifestyle coaching). A company such as Weight Watchers, for instance, could bundle a wearable device that measures clients' physical activity and nutritional intake and use the data to develop personalized plans for members.

Such transactions-based business models would not only help subsidize the device, but would strengthen long-term relationships with the manufacturing brand and provide additional distribution channels for the devices.

Unlike (or less so with) phones and other gadgets, wearable technology becomes part of people's personal images. Consumers will identify with wearable products in the same way they think about the fashion brands they wear. Every choice is a defining one.

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