> will consumers ever see this type of wearable tech again?
Sure. When many thousands of these devices have been produced on a growing economy of scale, when there are multiple options available from various vendors at various price points, when ordinary cellular network speeds and capacities are closer to the wifi in these businesses, when there's education, experience and toolchains for building apps that run on them, and the hardware has been battle-hardened, I'm sure they'll make more sense for consumers.
Computers were first affordable to businesses only - first as mainframes, then as PCs, then again as laptops, and once more as tablets. Consumers didn't buy the first cellular telephones and car phones, businesspeople did. CNC milling machines and rapid prototyping machines were once reserved for specialized, high-technology machine shops, now hobbyists can put a CNC router or 3D printer in their workshop. You used to have to go to a dealer with an expensive computer console when your check engine light came on, now a $10 OBDII reader can read and clear codes for you.
> I guess the battery life issues are still too big for many manufacturers to overcome?
They probably will be a problem for a long time. Unfortunately, battery capacity seems like one of those areas where we're not simply too low on the technology pyramid, it's just a question of raw physics. I would love to see this problem sidestepped by the compromise of making the batteries on these devices easily swappable. Even if they only got 6-8 hours of battery life, I'd happily unclip the battery on the earpiece at lunch or when I get home, swapping in the freshly charged one from my bag. What I don't want is an undersized battery that's glued in and decays down to 60% capacity after 18 months.