Wearable Gadgets Are Still Not Getting The Attention They Deserve - Here's Why They Will Create A Massive New Market
Marcelo Ballve
Oct 23, 2013, 19:45 IST
BI Intelligence
There's still a great deal of skepticism out there about how big the market potential is for wearables - gadgets like smartwatches, connected fitness bands, and smart eyewear.
There are signs that some analysts and investors are starting to become believers. Recently, wearables company FitBit raised a $43 million round of financing, and IDC yesterday cited wearables as a fast-emerging category that may be helping slow down growth in the tablet market. Samsung has launched a smart watch, which ugly or not has raised awareness about wearables. Expectations for Apple's rumored iWatch are reaching a fever-pitch.
Speculation on the future market for wearables devices is a confusing mix of skepticism and hype. But in a recent reportfrom BI Intelligence, we put hard numbers to our ideas and conservatively forecast a $12 billion market for wearable devices, led by wrist-worn gadgets. Wearables are about taking the ubiquity of the Internet one step further.
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We also analyze various growth forecasts for the wearable computing market, explore the products and prospects of each component market - including bracelets, smartwatches, and eyewear, pocket-sized and clip-on devices, and examine the various barriers to entry for each, and look at how wearables could bring along new platform wars. Subscribers also gain instant access to our May 2013 Google Glass forecast. And our August 2013 Smart Watch Forecast.
Smartwatches: Like fitness bands, they are employing wireless links - invariably, Bluetooth - to link up with a smartphone. But instead of collecting information, like most fitness bands, watches will display it. Promoters of smartwatches also highlight the fact that users will no longer have to constantly reach into their pockets for a smartphone - an action becoming more awkward as phone screen sizes grow.
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