Gadgetory

i'm dan seifert with the verge I'm not Sabbath also with average we're sitting here with Frank do OVO who is actually the head of design behind the new metawatch meta formerly of virtue smartphones which you had a long and illustrious Scalia career there so Frank thank you for joining us today great to be here down plaid thanks for inviting me it's a pleasure yeah so so here at CES metawatch is launching a brand new branding and design ethos and it kind of a new identity for the company absolutely and you had a big part of that yes before we get to that I wanted to talk about how you got to metawatch maybe just briefly cover you know you spend a long time at vertu you built the brand you built the company there you build lots of different smart phones and shares head of design there Absalom and how does that take us to where you're bringing the SmartWatch today well in a nutshell which is usually difficult for me to do but i'll try it really started back at nokia so I was chief of design at nokia actually starting designing phones and technology for nokia back in 89 but as chief of design at nokia we explored and brought technology and fashion together and it was really one of my main missions was to take take this in a friendly way to to the people technology that is but the next step was luxury so we launched ver 2 in 2002 after several years of R&D figuring out how to use materials like stainless steel and titanium and leather and sapphire because it didn't scratch not because it was precious but because it didn't scratch like had been on watches for many years previously so in 2012 some complicated things happen and ver 2 was sold and I made a decision that I would in a very friendly way move on and do other things and bill guys are wonderful bill geyser the CEO of metawatch at the time came to me and asked if I would join and work with them and so that's where that story started or ended up so as an independent design studio nuovo and myself work with Bill to develop all aspects of product and brand and marketing of what is now called meta and just something that you mentioned to us earlier it was a part of the foundation for vertu was about doing the ultimate irrespective of pricing absolute it wasn't so much about luxury and gaudy things videos about just making the best thing you can do with the materials they were available so how much of that has translated to your approach with metal now so harkening back to traditional watch designs and movements that are usually on the inside I wanted to bring that to the outside something tangible something visible that you could see and feel and the first thing that I do when I show the watch is I place it on someone's wrist and I ask how does it feel make hey this feels great and I can talk about that for probably 10 minutes before we even get into the tan so I should point out the fact that having armatures just by itself is a great feature precisely yes and really the thing that you're pointing out the fact that you're looking at a flat piece of technology is also the thing that the pebble steel the brand new watch there is addressing as well they're tackling the exact same issue the fact that the original pebble was too long for a whole bunch of people and they're taking the lug to lug distance and shorting it so what you're doing is you immediately addressing that exact same issue with the new model yeah and we're starting with you can wear this whether it's an analog watch or it's a digital SmartWatch it doesn't really matter if you want it on your wrist that's the first gate to open and that's what we're trying to do and then we can talk about the tech so do you think we're ever going to see a time when a meta watch maybe as a camera or or can you talk to it and carry on a conversation I think it's inevitable that when the technology doesn't compromise the experience in the way of wearability and management then all of that can be but if this has to grow by twenty percent to put a camera in it and if we go right now we have about a week of functionality between charges if this moves down to two days or three days because we've added color and and all kinds of bells and whistles then the experience is compromised there are other products that people have out there wonderful products competitors and I guess in various different ways but we see ourselves more as a watch plus than a strap on phone or a computer on your wrist I just wanted to briefly talk you mentioned to us earlier that the design that you've come up with for the meta allows you to use a variety of different materials and uniqueness to it can you just briefly talk about how that kind of speaks to how watches are perceived by people it's it's more of a personal object right it's all about creating icons design icons or products that people can look at from across the room and recognize I wanted to create a new potential icon and I say that with respect to if it's around in 10 years the way it is then it becomes one but you know you aim you aspire to create SI humbly a new icon and at least an icon for the brand and so in creating meta the armatures and the changeable armatures are something that can be varied for the next 10 years they could be ceramic stainless steel polished against Matt and price point wise we could achieve you know beautifully made plastic or and and and rubber band combinations in various bright colors so you could achieve so much with one form factor this design doesn't need to change at all for the next 10 years and we can do a thousand different variations so in a few months we'll be able to get some of these on our own wrists right actually you know as usual with most CES products they were showing what's next and these are just prototypes and various aspects are functional some aren't but we're moving very quickly and is in the spring we're not launching when exactly but we'll have the line it's a Frank just as a designer who can't let you go without asking you a couple of extra design questions go for the meta as far as I'm concerned is very close to the pebble in terms of the competition so I was wondering what are you thoughts on the original pebble in the new steel model how do you feel bourbon well let me start by saying that metawatch was around a long time before pebble and this is quite an interesting thing and it's a frustration that you know bill and dave had been working on metawatch at fossil several years ago he contacted me back in 2010 but it's interesting how the word gets out today through various channels and it becomes oh it started with pebble that's not the case in fact metawatch through fossil has had this technology out there in its earlier form it's for years so I'd have to say that they were looking at what Bill was doing and decided to do it their way with respect to pebble and all of their you know the buzz that's happened about them it's actually something that bill and David we're doing it our way so we have our way of taking all of those applications and allowing notifications to come through and remote controlling and all of that but the core of this is that you know meadow was a meta watch was around for quite a long time and so I love the fact that pebble is there because it creates a marketplace and there's no fear of competition there actually has to be a great handshake and a hug in my view I look forward to their designs to attract certain people to their aesthetic we're working on our own and it's really one happy family we're creating a new marketplace and actually bill is very open guy you know when when pebble came out he goes his words were fantastic somebody else is in this game doing it you know in this way and let's just all work together and create this this movement so we embrace it but I do want to keep saying that bill and Dave were out there with us for years before pebble even decided to do was a Kickstarter campaign wasn't it that's right but it's amazing it got so much attention through that it's fascinating how things come out to today and finally since most of your career has been spent designing and crafting smartphones how do you feel about the present crop of devices that we have wow that's a broad question I feel that there's an interesting thing going on with smartphones today which is usability wearability comfort so the trend is for these huge screen phones they're not really that friendly for walking around there was a sweet spot a while back where the phones you could still fit a phone in your coin pocket of your Levi's and that was sort of a moment now I grew up you know pioneering mobile phones at Nokia and I would always get people saying look at this and they'd always put their phone in their jean pocket they didn't need to carry a holster they didn't need to put it in which fit right there and it was great and that was kind of a measure of true wearability well jean pockets are going to have to grow a little bit today the fascinating thing for me is that there are phones out there today and I won't name the brand that if you drop it it breaks period if it doesn't have a rubber case around it it breaks when I was chief of design at nokia if i designed a phone and if it was dropped from three meters and it broke the entire program would be rejected so it's a fascinating moment where people are accepting of large broken glass screens it's a fascinating thing for me and I wonder that when design actually is about its longevity and the fact that you could use it and it's in balance with this functionality but things change very quickly so now people are walking around a great number of them with a crack down the middle of their display and that was totally unacceptable in my day people are buying them I can't say anything negative but it's fascinating because we couldn't get away with that oh the mail that would come through if you drop the Nokia and it broke back in time so I can get away with that with a method no absolutely not so what you see with meta is a responsible package we're creating again something made from very strong materials whether it's glass or whether it's gorilla glass or sapphire that's all a price point thing but in any case we want to make something which is robust something which is reliable and something that's beautiful it's something that feels good on the wrist before it even steps into the whole wonderful advantages of the features of forwarding and all the things that it can do great so Frank we want to thank you for joining us today thank you guys are a lot of great insights and Johnson and we're happy to have you here anytime