Tag: uk wearables

The electronics company has now started its first deal for pushing wearables through the English rugby team.

Samsung has now taken its first step into English rugby as the beginning of a three year deal that it has established with the national team, with the purpose of boosting its presence within the wearable technology environment.

This will make Samsung the first official wearables and overall home tech partner to the Rugby Football Union (RBU).

Samsung will be working with the RBU team in order to boost wearable technology awareness not only among consumers but also on a B2B level throughout the approach to the World Cup next year. This is an entirely new strategy of sponsorship for the business, which has been wrapped up in UK football through its various deals with Leyton Orient, Chelsea FC, and Swindon Town.

Samsung believes that this wearable technology sponsorship strategy will be a very powerful one.

The company feels that the popularity of the World Cup in the host country, as well as in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia – other countries where it sponsors the national teams – has been turning rugby into a “big deal” for the company’s global targets. The majority of the consumer facing activity that is occurring within the United Kingdom, through the deal, will be internet based, and will likely primarily be through the 2,000 affiliated RFU grassroots clubs.

Samsung is going to provide those clubs with access to training facilities, changing rooms, and coaching packages that have been technologically enhanced in order to better illustrate the value of wearables and its other electronics in the sports ecosystem. Furthermore, there are some videos designed to be funny and amusing that are also being prepared in order to further expand the awareness of the global tie-up in advance of a larger rallying call to the country as next September’s tournament nears.

A competition called the “Samsung Try of the Month” will also continue to run the length of the 2014/14 season as players and fans, alike, are encouraged to head online and upload their nominations. Every month, a different rugby personality in England will take part in this wearable technology and electronics campaign in order to select the winning club that will receive a clubhouse facilities upgrade worth £1,000 in Samsung products.

This market is rapidly becoming very popular and adoption is increasing quite swiftly.

Data that has recently been released by YouGov has shown that in Great Britain, there is a rapid adoption of personal tech among consumers, and these gadgets include wearable technology.

One in ten people, says the data, will be using wearables as this category of the market takes off.

At the moment, YouGov reports that six percent of the population of Great Britain owns some kind of wearable technology device. This represents approximately 2.8 million people. The types of devices that fall within this category include activity trackers, fitness bands, and smartwatches. That said, while the numbers are already strikingly high when considering that this category is still practically within its infancy, the firm expects that those figures will double to 13 percent of the population, or 6.1 million people, before the close of next year.

The next spike in wearable technology adoption is expected when the Apple Watch goes up for sale.

Apple’s entry into the wearables market is predicted to be a considerable driver for adoption rates, though the size of the impact won’t be seen until it actually happens at the start of next year. Ahead of that time, it will be the holiday shopping season that will make the biggest contribution to the figures.

The figures from a survey conducted by YouGov show that by the end of this year, one in ten people, which means about 4.7 million individuals, will own some form of wearable technology device.

The challenge that developers and manufacturers will now be facing will be in attempting to encourage those who own the wearables to actually continue to using them. At the moment, the majority of the gadgets that have already been purchased are focused on fitness. However, 37 percent of the people who were surveyed said that they have it just so that they will be able to keep up with the latest in technology.

While this may look good in sales figures, it also shows that companies still have a certain distance to travel before wearable technology will have been worked into the typical lifestyle of the majority of consumers.