COBI was one of the companies demonstrating its wearables solution at the Munich Wearable Technologies conference, and also one of the Innovation World Cup finalists in the lifestyle category. RCR Wireless News had the opportunity to record a video overview of their technology while at the event.
COBI works with e-bikes as well as normal everyday bike (see their website for specifics) by integrating your smartphone with your bike. Although there is an app involved, the level of interactivity is much higher than those enabled by the smartphone apps you might be using today such as Strava, MapMyRide, etc. You may also be wondering about a Garmin solution as many serious bikers have gone this route. There are more synergies in what is enabled at this level, but a Garmin solution is expensive, and not all bikers want to make this level of investment. The integration to the handlebars is a big part of this story.
What’s different and what’s the same? As you watch the two video links you’re probably noting a lot of similarities to the options mentioned above. There are similarities, and that is important, because today I believe there are table stakes to biking apps where the user expects certain functionality. These items include:
- Real-time statistics including distance, speed, and change in elevation
- Navigation
- Fitness statistics including heart rate, cadence and calories burned
- Data sharing with off-the-shelf apps like Strava, Google Fit and Apple Health through GPX import/export.
There are a host of topics that are different though. These enable safety of the rider, security of the bike and entertainment features during your daily ride.
- Listen to your favorite music play list from your smartphone, Spotify or a podcast while enroute
- Set a theft alarm with your bike and track it when it’s been taken through a crowd-based bike locator program
- Make your ride safer with an automatic brake light, turn signal, custom bell, automatic light and emergency service notification
The integrated mount will reduce the number of attachments to your handlebars, keep your smartphone safe from the weather and has a distinctive-looking front headlight design. As a mountain biker I get a little concerned about having my smartphone on the handlebars where it could get hit by branches in the woods. But overall I find this integrated solution interesting and would definitely give it a go once it’s commercially available. I believe it will be especially helpful to city or a road riders.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYr99n5aM0w
It’s also interesting to note that some of the founding team came from the connected car space and can leverage the lessons learned with connected cars into connected bikes. What’s the key challenge here? Cost – how do you take similar functionality and enable it at a price point that is acceptable for a bike? They will be launching this summer through global partnerships.
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Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA for RCR Wireless News, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and security. Having experience as an operator, software and hardware vendor and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News.