Tag: wearable technology devices

A research firm is now forecasting that the werarables market could have gone out of fashion by 2016.

According to the predictions that have been produced by a research firm regarding the wearable technology market, those mobile devices may already be edging toward the crest of a wave that could soon come crashing down.

The market is estimated to be made up of as many as 48 million device shipments, at the moment.

These wearable technology devices include everything from smatwatches to head mounted displays to fitness trackers, and even patches that adhere directly to the skin, among others. At the moment, many of them – particularly in the activity tracking category – are flying off the store shelves nearly as quickly as they can be placed there. However, if things go as has been predicted to NPD DisplaySearch, the hype will reach its maximum by the end of 2014, and it will only decline from there.

In fact, the wearable technology predictions are dramatic enough to say that the demand will be all but wiped out.

The NPD DisplaySearch report said that the actual hype that these wearables are generating has already started to fade. It stated that unless the prices fall considerably or there is a wearable device that is launched that offers the ability to become an essential tech gadget comparable to the role currently played by the smartphone, then there is a very real risk that smartglasses and smartwatches will be seen as nothing more than a fashion fad and they will be gone as quickly as they arrived.

According to the NPD DisplaySearch director of European TV research, Paul Gray, “We expect that the dynamics of the wearables market will be similar to DVD, LCD TV, smartphones, and other digital consumer markets with commoditised hardware.” He also added that prices and margins will fall when the market begins to include more from Samsung, LGE, “and other large, cost-efficient manufacturers.”

That said, the report also acknowledges that the actual evolution of wearable technology devices remains unknown, and there is still a great potential for one or several styles to be able to find the necessary consumer niche.

Has the industry made such a tremendous amount of noise that consumers lost interest before it caught on?

In the mobile tech industry, marketing needs to be conducted extremely carefully in order to make sure that consumers will gain interest and retain it enough to make a purchase and tell all of their friends – wearable technology is no exception to this rule.

When it comes to these mobile devices, brands and advertisers have stopped at no expense to spread the word.

However, as of yet, these wearable technology devices – which tend to be rather on the pricy side – still have yet to catch on with the majority of consumers. While it has generated some interest as individuals read up on the latest developments in the market, the number who do actually make a purchase of one of these gadgets is not as big as it was predicted to be. While some analysts believe that it is still too early in the evolution of the devices to tell for certain what the future will bring, others wonder if the hype was so great in this area that it died off before getting started.

This has left wearable technology makers wondering if they are looking to the future or not.

From smartwatches to augmented reality glasses, there is no shortage of different options available for the consumer to choose. However, as this flood of options has been tremendously hyped and the choices have raced their way forward even before many consumers could even tell what they are, many wonder if the flame on that torch was burnt out before most people could even become aware of the existence of most of the products.

According to the trends that have been seen over the last year, and that were renewed a few weeks ago in Barcelona at the 2014 Mobile World Congress (MWC), it looks as though this year is going to be an exceptionally critical one in the arena of wearable technology. Though Google Glass and Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatches have seen disappointing sales, so far, the marketing has been pushing forward to boost enthusiasm. Now, all the analysts can do is watch to see whether or not 2014 truly proves to be the year of the wearable tech.