Category: Gadgets

Study shows that wearable devices are gaining traction among UK consumers

The United Kingdom may soon become a leading wearable technology market. According to a recent study from YouGov, the number of people with wearable devices is growing. These devices range from smartwatches, fitness bands, and head-mounted systems that offer people a chance to experience the world in a different way. While wearable devices are still somewhat rare in the commercial market, many new devices are expected to be launched within the coming year.

6% of UK population currently owns a wearable device of some kind

According to the study, the approximately 6% of the UK population — nearly 2.8 million people — currently have some sort of wearable device. Most of these devices are smartwatches and physical activity trackers. The study predicts that the number of people with these devices will double in 2015, when new devices are released into the UK market. One device, in particular, may account for much of this growth: The Apple Watch.

Apple Watch may find success in the UK market

Apple unveiled plans for its new wearable device last month. Apple Watch promises to be the next evolution in wearable technology, providing users with all the features of a smartphone in a wearable gadget. The device is slated to be launched next year and its quick adoption is expected among iOS fans. The exact features that the Apple Watch will launch with are not yet known, but there is already a significant degree of hype surrounding the gadget.

AR devices likely to attract many consumers

Augmented reality devices are also likely to become somewhat famous in the UK. These devices, many of which will be worn on the head, promise to change the way people see the world. Google Glass is, perhaps, the most well known and anticipated of these devices. The head-mounted system will leverage augmented reality technology for a variety of purposes, including social media and navigation. A few technology companies have plans to launch AR devices in the coming years, but Google Glass is expected to launch in 2015, ahead of its competition.

Nearly half of all of the traffic on the internet from Canada stems from a smartphone, tablet, or similar gadget.

According to the research firm, comScore, the use of mobile devices by Canadians is making its way beyond an important milestone, as the number of hours spent online over these gadgets closes in on the fifty percent mark.

Of all of the time that Canadians spend online, 49 percent of it comes from smartphones and tablets.

Canadians are currently spending an average of 33 total hours online when taking the use of all of their connected gadgets into account. Forty nine percent of that is coming from mobile devices such as their cell phones, tablets, wearable technology gadgets, the iPad Touch, and other connected electronics. If things continue in the same direction, it won’t be long at all before people in Canada are using their smartphones and tablets for more of their online time than their laptops and desktop computers.

comScore explained that messaging apps, web searches and social networks are driving the use of mobile devices upward.

The firm explained that these are the purposes for which mobile gadgets are being most used while connected to the internet. For some of those users, smartphones and tablets represent the only way in which they are using the internet, and they have given up on their desktop and tablet computers, altogether.

There are currently 1.3 people in the country that will use a mobile device exclusively for accessing the internet, and who will not even touch a traditional computer, said senior account manager at comScore, Paul Rich. Rich explained that “Four per cent (of Canadian Internet users) look at online content in a month with (just) their mobile devices — their smartphone or tablet —and they don’t access anything on the desktop. That’s an emerging shift we’re seeing.”

On the other hand, while the use of mobile devices the only way that 4 percent of Canadians were accessing the internet, there was still a tremendously larger 47 percent who used their computers exclusively for their online activities, added Rich. Among those who used only smartphones or tablets, women made up 55 percent.