MediaTek's open LinkIt platform developed for wearable devices may offer opportunities for hardware developers to come out with wearable devices with killer applications rather than general-purpose smartwatches being rolled out by vendors, according to Digitimes Research.

Most wearable devices rolled out currently, such as smartglasses, smartwatches and smart activity trackers function as notification devices through connections with handsets, and therefore enable the displays of SMS, incoming calls, calendar as well as voice communications and search, but no killer applications.

MediaTek's LinkIt platform integrates special application processors and sensors plus software development kits to enable developers to create new applications. As a result, more and more wearable device makers are likely to adopt the LinkIt platform, said Digitimes Research.