It's a strange time right now in mobile devices; reports suggest that the smartphone market is actually starting to lose a bit of ground, and some are actually looking to the wearable device market to step up and bring the heat back to the market in something of a slow decline. But with much of the wearable technology market still somewhat undefined, and those devices that have already been shown getting a tepid reaction from potential buyers, some are seeing problems ahead in the wearable device market. With this in mind, Intel (News - Alert) is looking to the crowd to bring the next great advances in wearable tech forward; specifically, it's looking to hobbyists and mateur inventors?to bring those advances forth.

While at San Mateo's Maker Faire, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich offered up a novel idea about the role that the amateur may ultimately play in the development of wearable technology. Krzanich noted that successes in the field of smart clothing are likely to start out as the result of those technologically-adept few who see a need, and then fill that same need, in said inventors' own lives. From there, those filled needs will branch outward, and get into more users' hands. As Krzanich put it: ho better to design the next athletic wearable than an athlete??

Intel, therefore, took to the Maker Faire, a well-known occasion to bring together technology projects and technology enthusiasts in a bid to show off said projects. While Intel isn't alone, at last report, in turning to hobbyists for input into new project directions, it's proving to be one of the most aggressive in attempting to harness the crowd. To that end, Intellong with companies like Atmel (News - Alert) and ARM Holdings?transformed its role: promoting processor options to those hobbyists and the like who are working on wearable technology products. Intel has even put together a $1 million fund to reward those who pitch ideas for wearables made with Intel processors and similar hardware.

Some might be distressed by this idea, noting that this isr really should be if nothing elsehe kind of thing that companies retain staffs of paid research and development (R&D) personnel to accomplish. But it's not as though Intel has removed its own R&D efforts from the equation, at least, nothing seen so far suggests that that's the case. No, what Intel and similar companies seem to be doing here is augmenting current R&D efforts by bringing in those people with little more than idea and a vague understanding of how to put it together. If there's one thing that the Internet has proven over the course of the last 20 years or so, it's that a good idea can come from anywhere. The deer hunter in Maine, the fisherman in Tennessee, the hiker in California; any of these people can have a great idea for a piece of wearable technology, the kind of thing that an R&D staff could miss. Intel can't hire everyone to serve in R&D, so instead it's opening the floor as wide as it can go and giving those with ideas a chance to offer up same.

Intel may have the right idea here; let those with good ideas develop some and bring those ideas to those who might find said ideas most useful. Only time will tell if the next big thing in wearable devices comes from a corporate lab or someone's basement, but the direction is quite clear.