A new smartwatch developed specifically for dating claims to match compatible wearers who are within 100 feet of each other. The wearable is being developed and is raising funds on Kickstarter.
While the Apple Watch is all the rage these days, some hopeful designers are targeting more niche markets with their wearables. One inventor is developing a smartwatch called Serendip, which promises to match those looking for love with "the one."
The Serendip watch was inspired by the Gwyneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors, according to its Swedish creator Fredrik Colting, who asks, "Do you remember that romantic movie, the one where the guy walks into that place — it's a restaurant, a book store, the subway — he sits, he turns around, he picks something up, and ... wham! Their eyes meet. They both know what it means, even though no words have been spoken. The moment is enough. They know they love each other."
Colting's goal is apparently to substitute his Serendip smartwatch for eyes. Users initially fill out a detailed questionnaire that promises to determine which other Serendip wearers are compatible love interests. When a match occurs between two owners within 100 feet of each other, a "destiny" symbol pops up, alerting the wearers, although exactly how the two users are then expected to physically find each other is not yet clear.
There are some other serious obstacles to the implementation of Colting's goal, the most obvious of which is the large amount of Serendip wearers necessary to make finding a potential match viable. Otherwise, a lot of love seekers will be wandering around, wondering whether their destiny is in fact to remain alone.
Another issue is the limited function of the watch. While it can tell time and match you with your potential love interest, that's about all it can do. These days, consumers are expecting a multifunctional wearable that can do both of those things as well as about 800 others — track your heart rate, receive emails, take photos, wake you up, etc.
It seems that rather than inventing a piece of hardware dedicated to alerting matching love interests, Colting should have focused on creating an app for that purpose that can be used on the Apple Watch and/or Android Wear. You can bet someone else has already done so or is in the process, and the release of such an app will instantaneously make the Serendip a dated (pun intended) relic.
