Juniper Research has just published its second edition of findings on smart wearable devices and their findings may astonish you – they claim that by the year 2018, sales of smart wearable devices, which include both smartwatches and head devices, will hit $19 billion! This comes right on the heels of a Berg Insight report from last week that predicted that shipments of wearable technology would reach 64 million units in 2017.
Those are some hefty numbers to be throwing around, but they both make sense, and they both seem to agree with each other. Technology is ripe for the wearable industry to take off, and more and more manufacturers are fueling the fires as they begin to release their first or second-generation wearable watches or smartwatch as they are called. Peebles has been selling their smartwatch since early this year; Sony has a smartwatch out and most recently Samsung released its Galaxy Gear smartwatch and sales are brisk considering its $300 price tag and the fact it currently only works with the new Galaxy Note 3. Senior Analyst at Berg Insight, Johan Svanberg, says:
A perfect storm of innovation within low power wireless connectivity, sensor technology, big data, cloud services, voice user interfaces and mobile computing power is coming together and paves the way for connected wearable technology.
The technology and miniaturization are making these devices possible and have already passed by the long awaited, “Dick Tracy 2-Way Wrist Radios” that many people dreamed about as kids. We are talking about “smart wearable devices” here and that would also include Google’s Glass, a wearable head device similar to glasses. Google has been testing the device all year and constantly making improvements and by the time they go on sales to the general public, sometime in 2014, they are looking to be quite piece of techno gadgetry. The word is that Google plans on selling Glass at or slightly above their manufacturing costs, estimated to be about $300 – $350…if that does indeed happen, Google may be selling them as fast as they can manufacturer them. The real money for Google will be in, what else, but the advertising fees it will reap from the information that Google will gather from the Glass users, or Glassholes as they are called, and sell to companies.
But Google’s Glass may have far reaching implications in everyday uses – such as firemen using them while on the job at a fire and can report back live images and pictures for fire investigators. The Medical field will also have many practical applications, such as a surgeon or attending nurse, wearing Glass during an operation that would allow students to view the procedure on a big screen in another room, or a specialist could be on the receiving end, offering his or her expertise to the attending physician. There could be untold military applications for Glass as special ops could send back visual images to the commanding officers’ allowing them to make a more intelligent decision on their next move.
The smart wearable market is going to grow at a rapid rate – according to Berg Insight:
Sales of smart glasses, smart watches and wearable fitness trackers reached 8.3 million units worldwide in 2012, up from 3.1 million devices in the previous year. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 50.6 percent, total shipments of wearable technology devices are expected to reach 64.0 million units in 2017.
Like it or not the smart wearable device invasion has already begun and there appears to be no-way to stop it, and companies like Google, Samsung, Sony, etc. that invest in their expertise now, should reap big rewards in the near future. Are you excited about the new techno wearable devices and do you see one in your future. Let us know in the comments of on Google+.