For at least the past year, speakers at financial technologyconferences – from the ubiquitous BAI Retail Delivery to smallershows such as NetFinance Interactive—have been telling bank andcredit union audiences of the pressing need to factor wearabletechnology into the mix.

In fact, Javelin Strategy & Research published a paper lastyear titled “Investing in Wearables for Financial Services – WhyNow?” This paper called upon “financial services innovators” tostart investing in wearable technology today.

One of the technologies highlighted in this paper was GoogleGlass, the computing device that looks and wears like a pair ofeyeglasses. Six months after the report was published, Googlehalted all sales of Google Glass. The future of this productremains in question.

So goes the slow evolution of wearable technology.

What's a Wearable Anyway?

As the name implies, a wearable is any type of digital devicethat can be worn like an article of clothing or jewelry. Headsetslike Google Glass, smartwatches like the upcoming Apple Watch, andfitness wristbands like the Fitbit are all considered wearables.That's not to mention all of the wearable devices that are yet tobe invented.

As noted earlier, Google Glass has stalled, and fitnesswristbands are, of course, for fitness applications. That meansthat currently, financial technology experts are paying the mostattention to smartwatches. It's important to keep in mind, though,that smartwatches are nothing new.

Timex introduced its Datalink watch in 1994. Although theDatalink was reasonably priced and a technological marvel for itstime, it never managed to gain more than a cult following. The lastDatalink model was introduced in 2003.

Granted, technology has advanced considerably since 2003.However, the question remains to be answered: Is there likely to bebroad consumer acceptance of wearable technology sometime in theforeseeable future? And if so, is that acceptance likely to extendto financial transactions?

It's also worth noting that the current crop of smartwatchesrelies on tethering to smartphones for full functionality. In otherwords, forget your phone and home and you've also forgotten part ofyour watch.

Why Wearables?

Despite a slow start, all indicators point to a brighter futurefor wearables. For example, according to Statista.com, NorthAmerican smartwatch sales totaled about 1.2 million units. In 2015,that number is expected to jump to 7.4 million.

As American consumers demand faster and faster access to theirmoney, the smartwatch seems to represent a viable option. Theyappear well-suited for fraud and other alerts, quick balancechecks, funds transfers, and even bill payments. This functionalityis expected to become even more convenient as voice-activatedtechnology becomes more commonplace.

Spending Time or Spending Money? Large banks like Wells Fargo,Barclays and U.S. Bank, among others, are spending moneyexperimenting with wearable technology right now. So are severalfinancial technology vendors, such as Paypal and Fiserv. Where doesthis leave the typical credit union?

With so many other areas demanding immediate intention, creditunions are well-advised to keep wearables on the technology radar.However, it will likely be at least a few years before they requireactual monetary investment.