Smart watches, which pioneered the wearable technology sector, earned collective revenue of US$700 million in 2013 with the sale of 3.1 million units. The sheer magnanimity of these watches can be inferred from quick sale they made and acceptance they received. Smart watches are nothing but wearable computing devices that a user wears for its functional capabilities supported by a matching smartphone. These watches are designed either to function on their own or match the functions of a smartphone such as accessing the internet, messaging, and using mobile apps through smart watches, making calls, accessing applications pertaining to music, health, and weather, and providing navigational help.
In the recent years the inception of newer technologies such as smart watches has taken the quantity of content to greater heights. These projections of smartphones on the user’s wrist are likely to find a huge market in the coming years due to the seamless accessibility they provide in supporting lifestyle choices such as health management. The humungous amounts of data these gadgets can hold indicate that they are likely to replace smartphones. However, the contrary is true. Their dependency on smartphones is expected to encourage the smartphone market and instead prove to be replacements for traditional timepieces. The global smart watches market is oligopolistic in nature.
Regional Analysis of Global Smart Watches Market
The global smart watches market has been segmented on the basis of regions such as North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Furthermore, the other segmentation found in the global smart watches market is on the basis of applications. Broadly speaking, the global smart watches market has been categorized on the basis of healthcare, sports, and general consumers. Lastly, the final segment seen in this nascent market is that off standalone smart watches and companion devices.
Future of Global Smart Watches Market
Analysts predict, the global smart watches market is expected to witness a great growth trend in the coming few years. The biggest factor driving this growth will be the big vendors such as Samsung and Apple entering this sector. With increased spending on research and development, the big vendor also show a promise of delivering par excellence products that enhance lifestyles in more ways than one. Some of the key players in the market such as Pebble, Sony, Samsung, and Maritime have expanded their budgets for research and development for smart watch and are also entering partnerships to provide value added products to their ever-growing customer base. These initiatives will also bring into the market a whole new array of able and accurate products. Industry experts also believe that there will be price reduction in the smart watches, which will further drive its adoption and expand the niche market.
Some of the other aspects driving the global smart watches market are growing purchasing power, need for consumer electronics, and its distinctive features. Technological advancements and shift in consumer preferences will also prove to be incredible growth drivers for the global smart watches market. Increasing need for wireless technology and software to multitask, save time, and get efficient will also fuel the global smart watches market.
The global smart watches market also faces some of restraints such as undefined technology standards. The smart watches also faces design issues such as bulkiness, battery issues, poor functionality, and lack of aesthetics. In a futuristic approach, manufacturers are looking at making the smart watches more software oriented to make them a far more powerful extension of operating systems used in the smartphones.
