Consumers are keen to own smart watches over other popular pieces of wearable technology such as fitness trackers, new research has found.
The study by Apadmi found that over 40 per cent of people in the UK would most like to buy a smart watch, with just 28 per cent of respondents saying they would prefer to buy a fitness tracker. Just 23 per cent stated they would like to purchase smart glasses such as Google Glass, while only 18 per cent said they would be most likely to buy smart clothing.
Last year, research found that fitness trackers were the most in-demand form of wearable technology. For instance, Nielsen reported that among wearable technology owners, the most popular devices were fitness bands (61 per cent) followed some way back by smartwatches (45 per cent). While YouGov found that the largest wearable technology category was fitness devices, with 3 per cent of the UK population possessing a fitness tracker – compared to just 1 per cent with smartwatches.
However, with the emergence of new smart watches such as Apple Watch, Apadmi’s latest research shows the shift is changing towards these types of wearables.
Nick Black, co-founder and director at Apadmi, said: “Wearable technology is an incredibly diverse category covering a whole range of products such as smart glasses, smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart clothing, smart wristbands, smart jewellery and virtual reality headsets. Some may always have limited adoption rates but others are showing all the signs of breaking into the mainstream in 2015.
“For some time now, fitness trackers have surged ahead in the popularity stakes and there's plenty of research confirming that most people own one of these. Times are changing, however, and from late 2014 onwards we've suddenly started to see more consumers reporting that they want a smartwatch over anything else. This correlates with the fact that Apple is launching its first smartwatch. Consumers are suddenly excited about smartwatches in a way that they've never been before, which leads us to believe that Apple's impending entry can be a real game-changer for the entire smartwatch category.”
Nick Black continues: “The findings of our research should be insightful for businesses working in the tech industry, but the final decision on which categories should be targeted will involve more than just comparing adoption rates of course. Those that want to develop apps monitoring athletic performance to the most rigorous standards may find it best to concentrate on fitness trackers, whereas those looking to ensure doctors receive instant updates on their patients might prefer to put all of their resources behind smartwatches or even smart glasses. It's also a good idea to focus on mainstream operating systems like Android Wear or rivals with high growth potential like Apple Watch OS because smaller players come and go in this fast-moving industry. Once companies have identified which devices to target - smart watches for instance - they should move quickly because the industry is likely to have already moved on by the time long-winded commissioning and development cycles have been completed.”
By Claire West, Fresh Business Thinking.
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