Market analyst Canalys reports that 1.6M fitness bands and smartwatches combined were sold in the second half of last year, and is predicting that more than 17M devices will be sold this year, driven largely by forecast sales of 8M smartwatches.
Though currently a relatively small market serving fitness enthusiasts, wearable bands represent a massive opportunity in the medical and wellness segment. 2014 will be the year that wearables become a key consumer technology, as the smart band segment is estimated to reach 8 million annual shipments. Canalys estimates that this number will grow to over 23 million units by 2015, and over 45 million by 2017 …
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty recently forecast that the iWatch could generate $17.5 billion in the first twelve months.
We’ve recently run a series of pieces about what is known about the iWatch project so far. iOS 8 appears to be gearing up for a major focus on fitness and health, presumably with the iWatch in mind. Recent Apple hires include a sleep researcher and physiologists, with a large and high-calibre team believed to be working on the project.
It appears likely that the iWatch is intended as an iPhone accessory rather than a standalone device, with data from it accessed via a new Healthbook app.
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I know I’m personally very excited to see what Apple does in this space. Especially with the rumours of glucose readings being one of the sensors possibly appearing in the watch. Current glucometers, even the made-for-iPhone iBGStar, aren’t nearly where they could be with some proper innovation. The size of the iBGStar is great, but the 30-pin connector means I have yet another adapter to carry around with me to sync it up to my 5s, as well as having to remove my case, which instead means I don’t sync it as often as I should. Adding bluetooth to one of these meters (while keeping it tiny!) would be a great step, as long as the software and app on the phone were good to go along with it, but I think Apple’s standard ease of use and usually awesome hardware-software integration would do wonders for the millions of people that have to monitor their levels several times a day. It’s a field ripe for innovation from a company that isn’t interested in sticking with sub-par technology standards and raking in profit from test strips from people that have no better options.
Glucose readings would indeed be great to see on an iWatch.
I have to say Ben, I read a lot of websites and don’t often comment on most of them, but I love commenting here because of the time you guys take to reply to most, if not all of the comments. It really adds a personal, nice touch to the site and keeps me coming back. Thanks!
Thanks, Mark – I read all the comments and reply as much as I can.
It will be like all over iPad again, 2014 will be the year of iWatch and 2015 will be the year of iWatch copiers :D