In June, U.K.-based FX-Sport, a wearable tech start-up, is launching a Kickstarter fundraiser to perfect its waterproof mp3 player and headphones set dubbed the “VR2”. The VR2 lets users download personalized workouts from the company’s online Workout Store.
Kickstarter Campaign
Duncan Walsh, the company’s founder is a former British Open over 40 squash champion. He wants to make sure the device’s software and user interface are bullet proof before rolling out the product to the marketplace (here’s his YouTube message addressing the purpose of the Kickstarter campaign).
Walsh believes that more features can be added within wearable devices such as waterproof accessories (silicon cover) and programmable tracks or voice messages.
“You can create your own workouts or upload to the headphones, pre-prepared training sessions from a data base of hundreds in the ‘Workout Store’, onto a purpose made wireless device,” said Walsh in an interview with Examiner.com. “The workouts are all professionally constructed by top personal trainers.”
Demand for Fitness Tech
Walsh’s innovation could set a trend in a fast growing industry. Demand for fitness technology is expected to quadruple in 2014, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
Here are some stats:
- Three quarters of online U.S. consumers (75 percent) now say they own a fitness technology product, up from 61 percent in 2012.
- Pedometers are the most popular fitness device owned by consumers (37 percent), followed by fitness video games (26 percent) and portable blood pressure monitors (21 percent).
- Nine percent of online U.S. adults plan to buy a smart watch in the coming year.
- Revenues in the U.S. are estimated to reach $854 million in 2013, an increase of 32 percent over the prior year. CEA expects revenue to surpass $1 billion in 2014, a 37 percent increase over 2013.
Here are full details of FX-Sport’s VR2 headphones. For updates, you can follow FX-Sport on Twitter.