Tag: wearables

Smartwatch sales leaders in the U.S. are clearly Samsung and Pebble

| June 18, 2014

These two companies currently make up 96 percent of American sales for these wearables.

According to a recent survey, Samsung and Pebble are the smartwatch manufacturers that have massively dominated the category since October, in terms of sales, as Gear devices currently make up an estimated 78 percent of the total $96 million in revenue for that market, while Pebble holds the majority of the remainder, at 18 percent.

It has been estimated that since October 2013, there have been about half a million of these devices sold in the U.S.

The data was released by the Weekly Tracking Service from NPD Group, a market research company, which said that “almost half a million smartwatches have been sold in the U.S. since October 2013 and category incumbents, Samsung and Pebble, dominate the market.” NPD ‘s recent survey includes data that spans from October 6 of last year, to May 25.

Details about the smartwatch sales from other companies such as Qualcomm and Sony were not revealed in the report.

Smartwatch SalesDuring that period of time, one in three of all of the wristwatch wearable technology devices were sold within the 2013 holiday season, said the report. NPD executive director of industry analysis, Ben Arnold, explained that they are predicting that that the sales of these devices will only continue to grow throughout this year. He added that “With nearly $100 million in US sales in less than a year, the category is off to a promising start with just two major brands.”

The report went on to say that the Wearable Technology Study from NPD showed that about 20 percent of consumers feel that they are interested in actually buying one of these devices, except that the cost is currently prohibitively high. In the United States, the price of the average smartwatch is currently $189, with devices ranging from about $160 to $257.

Arnold went on to say that as manufacturers spot the opportunity to combine the sale of these wearables with that of smartphones, the prices of the watches have started to dip down into the range that consumers would consider to be more affordable. He stated that “Like any new product category, the overall ASP (average selling price) on these devices will decline as the market becomes more diverse with budget, mid-level, and premium product offerings.”

Wearable technology will be big in the business world, says Salesforce

| June 17, 2014

The company is betting that companies will be looking to wearables and has unveiled its developer pack.

At a time in which wearable technology is drumming up a great deal of controversy, with fitness trackers going mainstream, but while augmented reality headsets such as Google Glass are drawing criticism and nicknames for wearers such as “glassholes”, Salesforce is betting that this will be the tech of the near future for businesses and has now released its Wear Developer Pack.

The hope is that developers will use it in order to build apps and platforms for business purposes.

Salesforce is hoping that developers will use its open source Wear Developer Pack software in order to build systems with customer service, CRM, and a number of other types of business practice in mind. This tech will function with wearable technology devices such as web connected augmented reality glasses, smartwatches, and other mobile gadgets of this nature, and it will integrate them with the company databases that are already sitting on its platform.

While some are calling this wearable technology move an exciting one, others see a considerable risk.

Wearable Technology - NewsAt the moment, the primary focus is on wearables such as smartwatches and AR glasses. While there are many forms of smart clothing that have been unveiled and that are making their way onto the market, those are primarily meant for consumer use at the moment. That said, it is not yet clear whether the business world really is ready for wearables, nor has a solid opinion been collected that would suggest that they are or are not looking to work those gadgets into their operations.

That hasn’t stopped Salesforce, which has decided to make a considerable investment into enterprise wearable tech in order to grab hold of the first mover advantage within this category. The company feels confident that this market will be exploding over the next few years and it wants to make sure that its foundation is well built by the time that happens.

According to the Salesforce senior vice president of emerging technologies, Daniel Debow, “We saw this opportunity,” and said about wearable technology “How can you link these to marketing operations? How can you link these to business operations?”