Over the past year, several wearable devices have emerged to give people an alternative to constantly checking their mobile phones for updates. However, there is only one device that has materialized at the intersection of couture and technology. Ringly makes smart jewelry and accessories that connect to users' mobile phones via bluetooth to "put your phone away and your mind at ease." Ringly's debut product is a cocktail ring that comes in four different styles. Each ring lights up and vibrates when the user receives a new notification, and users can customize which notifications they receive by using the Ringly app.
“One of the reasons I started the company is I was missing things all of the time because I keep my phone in my purse," said co-founder, Christina Mercando. "I wanted to solve that, but I also started to notice everyone around me always having to keep their phone out at the dinner table and it interrupting certain things. I love conversation and I love restaurants and eating and it’s just one of those things that bothered me that I wanted to help fix.”
Mercando and co-founder Logan Munroe worked on the launch of Ringly for a year. During that time, they went through seven product iterations and months of fundraising. They discuss their experience developing the product in this week's Floating Point's Podcast.