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Report: Smartwatches and other wearables fail to meet sales expectations

12/22/2016 at 2:30 PM by Brad Linder Leave a Comment

You probably already have a computer or two, a smartphone, and maybe a tablet. So over the past few years consumer electronics companies have been looking for the next thing to sell you, and many settled on smartwatches or other wearables.

At one point or another, virtually every big smartphone maker launched a smartwatch, although the wearable space has long been dominated by fitness trackers from companies like Fitbit.

But while Apple’s Tim Cook says the Apple Watch set new sales records this holiday season, a new report from eMarketer suggests wearables aren’t as hot as many companies had hoped.

The company says this year “39.5 million US adults will use a wearable device” that connects to the internet at least once per month. But that number fall shorts of the nearly 64 million eMarketer had expected.

A little over a year ago the company predicted a 60 percent growth in wearable usage in 2016, but as the year draws to a close, the real number is closer to 25 percent.

This isn’t the first sign of trouble in the wearable space. IDC reported in October that worldwide shipments were down more than 50 percent from the same period a year earlier. Motorola has put plans for next-gen smartwatches on hold indefinitely. And smartwatch pioneer Pebble recently sold its assets to Fitbit and shut down most operations.

I always thought smartwatches were a hard sell, or a niche product, at best. Most are only useful if you already have a smartphone that can pair with the watch… and if you have a smartphone you may not need a smartwatch, since many functions are duplicated.

Sure, they open up the possibility of doing some things more quickly, but why spend hundreds of dollars on a device that saves you a second or two when you could just buy a traditional watch that may cost less and which won’t feel outdated in a few years?

On the other hand, I have been wearing a fitness tracker for the past 3 years in an effort to make sure I don’t get blogger belly by sitting on my behind all day while I work. A treadmill desk helps with that, but only if I actually remember to walk, which my Fitbit One helps with. But the only time I’ve ever felt the need to replace a fitness tracker is when I lost the Withings Pulse that had been clipped to my belt for 2 years.

There’s not a lot of profit in selling gadgets that people don’t need to upgrade or replace very often, which makes me wonder if the fitness tracker bubble will burst.

Or maybe someone will actually come up with a killer app for wearables that will move them beyond niche products.

via Business Insider

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Kary
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Kary
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For me it’s more about not having something on my wrist. After phones/smartphones started keeping track of time for us, it was sort of nice to not have to deal with a watch. Getting another seems like a step backward. I wonder how many people get them as status symbols (like expensive watches) as opposed to getting them for their functionality.

The other market that seems to be in trouble is small (10″ and under) tablets, at least based on product releases.

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2 years ago
riddick
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I fully agree… I have been watchless for almost 10 years and I am never going back. It would be like going back to floppy disks or VCRs.

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2 years ago
e1e1
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I agree as well.

Also, technically, what makes something a “wearable”? I mean if you attach an iPhone to your body with one of those things people wear that wraps around your arm or leg or whatever when they go jogging, does that make it a “wearable”? But if you put it in your pants pocket is isn’t being “worn”?

I mean you could technically strap a laptop to your chest and it would be a “wearable” but obviously nobody is going to do that. But something as small as a typical smartphone should be considered equally portable as a watch in my opinion. The whole “wearable” designation seems silly.

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2 years ago
alsosavagemike
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The watch, or similar, thing is about power and I/O capability. The same triggers for the popular uptake of all computing hardware. So it was with desktops and laptops and phones and so shall it be with watches and the like. Even if they fade out now they’ll pop back up when the technology is more capable. Though I think it’s capable enough now that they eek through actually. I/O is probably the biggest issue. The phone just lasts longer, can show you more, and the input concepts have matured to something very usable. Computing power and energy needs seem to be on a steady march toward improvement. There is no question that will become usable enough. The I/O is a bigger nut to crack. Probably very intelligent and conversational AI is the answer. And I think you are going to see large scale advancement there due to products like… Read more »

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2 years ago
Kary
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If you had a smartwatch that could do everything a smartphone does, combined with “Glasses or visor or eye-ball projector,” then I think you would see smartwatches take off.

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2 years ago
alsosavagemike
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Yeah, exactly. Who will be the big seller and when exactly it arrives are the only mysteries. That it comes is a given.
The eye centered screen will be a big deal. The ability for augmented reality to deliver massive amounts of information is such a powerful idea that it’s difficult to imagine the possible scope. Probably quite a ways off before the computing and energy power needed are small enough to make something so convenient that basically everyone wears it every day. But no doubt that day is coming. It will be good enough for widespread adoption a lot sooner than that though.

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2 years ago

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