PULSE by Wareable
PULSE by Wareable Podcast
Misfit CEO Sonny Vu: Screenless tech, building smart rings & wearables going full-circle
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Misfit CEO Sonny Vu: Screenless tech, building smart rings & wearables going full-circle

Sonny Vu and Amy Puliafito talk about wearables going full circle
Sonny Vu

It’s a change of pace this week, as PULSE by Wareable chats to some old friends. The key highlights of the chat are below, but this one certainly feels like an essential listen, if you’re interested in building and developing wearables.

Misfit was a stalwart of the wearables landscape when Wareable launched in 2014. Its screen-less Misfit Shine was designed to do fitness tracking more beautifully and discreetly than the Fitbits and Nike Fuelbands of its day.

Misfit eventually sold to Fossil, and its DNA is still alive today, with its technology woven through Wear OS after selling IP to Google.

With smart rings bringing digital health minimalism back, I talk to Sonny Vu, founder of Misfit, and Amy Puliafito, its director of communications about the origins and learnings from Misfit – and how wearables are going full circle.

We talk about how Misfit was founded, how crowdfunding played its part, and how Misfit was so successful in its time and place.

And we look at today’s wearables, including Oura, Whoop and Ultrahuman, and talk about why the time for smart rings is now.

PULSE by Wareable is your source of wearables industry news, comment, opinion, and podcasts – direct from those driving it forward.

Amy Puliafito

In this podcast episode:

00:00: The Early Days of Misfit and the Evolution of Wearables

03:05: Pivoting to Wrist-Worn Wearables

08:11: The Role of Crowdfunding in Misfit's Success

13:31: The Fossil Acquisition and the Challenges of the Wearables Market

25:55: The Current Landscape of the Wearables Industry

28:20: The Challenges and Resurgence of Wearables

37:04: The Rise of Smart Rings

41:42: The Role of Wearables in Healthcare

44:26: The Future of Wearables: New Form Factors and Sensor Ubiquity

49:19: Accelerating Human Learning and Integration with AI

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PULSE by Wareable
PULSE by Wareable Podcast
PULSE is the new subscription version of Wareable – the largest website dedicated to wearable tech. It focuses on health and wellness wearables, AI & new form factors. Subscribe for a free CES 2024 trends report and get 20% off subscriptions this month.