Rating: 70 million smart wearables to be sold in 2017
Driven by the launch of augmented reality (AR) glasses and the like from Google, Microsoft and Apple, Juniper Research envisages significant adoption of smart wearable devices. It forecasts that almost 70 million such devices will be sold in 2017 compared to sales of just 15 million in 2013. Typical smart wearable devices include glasses, health and fitness devices along with enterprise wearables. These findings are taken from its latest ‘Smart Wearable Devices: Fitness, Healthcare, Entertainment & Enterprise 2012-2017′ report which can be found here.
The report’s author, Nitin Bhas, says “The development of the smartphone/app store model has opened up new avenues for other segments within the market, such as the wearable device market, by combining mobility with an efficient method of software delivery.”
He continued, “The simultaneous development of app-ecosystem and wearable devices will integrate technologies, – such as augmented reality, into human life more seamlessly.”
The report indicates that fitness and sports wearables, followed by healthcare devices, are forecast to dominate the market with a combined market share of over 80 per cent in the final forecast year 2017.
Another key finding is that the market will be dominated by North America and Western Europe, representing over 60 per cent of the global wearable device sales.
In terms of sales, the wearable devices market, including smart glasses, will be worth more than $1.5 billion by 2014, up from just $800 million in 2013.
The report also notes that whilst the retail price for smart glasses will decline towards the end of the forecast period, the adoption level amongst consumers will increase by 2017.
A whitepaper entitled ‘Wearables ~ The Next Smart Thing’ is available for free download from the Juniper website here.
