Intel Wearables Group Grows: Nike FuelBand, Oakley Designers Onboard

There's a relatively low-key group out there in the wild known "New Devices", running inside Intel with a key team of designers and engineers that've just grown with the hire of Nike FuelBand design engineer Steve Holmes. This group is run by Intel's Mike Bell – a man who has in the past worked as an engineer for both Palm and Apple. They've also recently hired a man named Hans Moritz, former leader of a project which created Oakley Airwave.

This team is shaping up to be a high-powered mix of engineers and designers that are set in an ideal position to develop a new generation of wearable devices. Intel has not been shy in the recent past about wanting to create wearable devices – or at least devices that reach forward into never-before-accessed device categories. Both President Renee James and CEO Bryan Krzanich have said as much.

According to Intel Free Press, Holmes recently spoke up in an interview about several devices that are currently ringing true as successful wearable launches.

"People will have more wearable devices because their capability is going up, the cost is going down and the things you can do with them will become much more compelling.

The big change now is the amount of technology that you can pack into some of these small devices is becoming significant enough that it really opens up new possibilities." – Steve Holmes

While it's important to note that Holmes may not have even had Intel in mind at all when he did this interview, you can see plainly where his mind was headed. Meanwhile Intel has just this week announced a new set of Quark Chips tiny enough to be used in wearable devices.

Quark chips are five times smaller than Intel Atom chips. One type of Quark Chip has been suggested by Intel as being ready for smartwatches and bracelets, while another has been designed specifically for injestable devices. That's a whole new level of wearable, if you please – Motorola thinks so, too.

Keep your eye on Intel for the next few months in this New Devices category – they're directing energy straight at the devices you've not only never seen before, but have never imagined would be possible.