Some fictional characters have been around for so long that we can’t even fathom how old they actually are, especially since the characters themselves are, of course, eternally young. The jovial rodent Mickey Mouse, for example, is nearing his first century, while Barbie celebrated her 65th birthday last year. Of course, this means that fans of these franchises aren’t just the kids they’re targeted at but also adults who have grown to love them through the years.
She might not be as old, but Hello Kitty also just turned 50 a few months back, which has naturally led to a flood of new designs and collaborations to celebrate the Japanese-born bow-toting feline. That line of merchandise now includes a smartwatch that’s clearly not just for a younger audience. And Hello Kitty isn’t coming alone and has a few of her friends to help sell the idea of a Sanrio-branded wearable, at least to the Japanese market.
Designer: Green House
Smartwatch design collabs are always interesting, though not always in a good way. It often involves special watch faces and straps designed to highlight a specific brand or franchise, but those don’t always have the same impact as limited edition wristwatches. After all, it’s always possible to change a watch face to some specific design or swap out straps that make the special edition smartwatch lose its uniqueness. There’s just too much flexibility with this wearable device that such special designs become almost meaningless.
In that sense, the Hello Kitty and Sanrio smartwatch line is pretty unique in that it tries to preserve that limited character while still trying to offer the standard features of a smartwatch. Yes, you have a variety of smartwatch faces to choose from and pre-installed ringtones and notification sounds using the characters’ voices. The most distinctive part of the design, however, is the lug joints that are shaped into the heads of their corresponding characters, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a way to swap them out with standard straps.
The smartwatch line features four of Sanrio’s troupe, including Hello Kitty, Kuromi, Pompompurin, and Cinnamoroll, each with its own exclusive color scheme. In addition to those custom visuals and sounds, the devices also feature your typical smartwatch capabilities like notifications, activity tracking, and health monitoring. It even has the ability to act as a remote shutter button for your smartphone camera.
These features actually mark the Hello Kitty and Friends smartwatch line as something more oriented for grown-up fans of the franchise. There is no mention of the underlying platform used for the smartwatch, so you’ll probably be stuck with some unknown software that won’t let you install other apps, presuming you can even get your hands, or wrist, on one. Unfortunately, it seems that availability is limited to Japan for now, which makes the mouth-watering $93 price tag a tragedy.
The post Hello Kitty and Friends Get Their Own Smartwatch Line But There’s a Catch first appeared on Yanko Design.