Motorola pushes forward with wearable tech plans

Motorola is attempting to boost its ambitions in the wearable technology space, with the firm actively recruiting a senior exec to head up a specialised team.

The Google-owned hardware firm is looking for a senior director for its Industrial Design Team. Key responsibilities will include recruiting designers and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the "wearable design team".

"We believe in ourselves, in our future with Google and our heritage in Motorola. We believe we can do anything," Motorola proclaimed in the job post.

"The wearables design team will lead the establishment of our brand in the massive competitive and growing space of wearable connected products."

Motorola and Sony already produce smartwatches, with the Japanese firm declaring itself as the market leader and claiming to have shifted 500,000 of its smartwatches worldwide.

With startups such as Pebble arriving on the scene and shipping around 15,000 units per month, the wearable computing market looks to be the next market technology giants will tap into.

Google has already released its Glass device to developers and the public can expect to get their hands on the Android-based product in 2014. However, there are concerns about cost, privacy and security.

Technology heavyweights including Apple and Samsung, meanwhile, are said to be working on their own smartwatch designs as sales of their popular iPhone and Galaxy devices begin to plateau.

Despite falling behind rivals in the smartphone market, it appears that Motorola could be ahead of the curve when it comes to wearable technology. Motorola's head of advanced technology projects, Regina Dugan showed off a couple of interesting ideas the firm is working on at the All Things D conference in June.

Dugan debuted a non-permanent wearable tattoo made up of tiny stretchable sensors the aim of which is to be used for authentication purposes. The firm is also working on making tablets with sensors embedded in them that could help monitor health as well as negate the need for passwords.