Several wearable devices are dedicated to staying on the user's wrist, but its face is changing fast.
Headed into 2015, the wearable market will soon be bidding a slow farewell to the dominance of screen- and app-less fitness wristbands and trackers, like the Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP, and welcoming in the era of smartwatches, with the Apple Watch front and center.
The global fitness wearable market, which includes fitness wristbands, sport watches and smart garments, is expected to shrink next year from 70 million units sold to 68 million, according to a November 2014 report from analyst firm Gartner. Smart wristband shipments are expected to fall by 15 percent to 17 million units, while smartwatches are expected to jump 17 percent to 21 million shipments, eclipsing the former as the most successful wearable design to date.
The problem? Fitness wristbands, as popular as they have been so far, just don't do enough to excite consumers when compared with devices like the Apple Watch and Motorola's Moto 360 smartwatch - or do very little that a smartwatch can't do and more.
"Half the people who would have bought a [fitness] wristband will buy a smartwatch instead next year," Gartner analyst Angela McIntyre concluded.
As wearable technology moves from the fringes to the mainstream, accelerated by the Apple Watch's arrival next spring, companies that have thrived by being first to the scene will soon be facing competition from fashion houses, watchmakers and accessory providers. More than just increased pressure, however, is a decision on how to move forward as consumers abandon one design for another.
Unlike smartphones, tablets and PCs that take obvious shapes and perform many of the same functions, wearables can cover different parts of our bodies and perform a wide variety of functions depending on where they're placed and what other device they're paired with. How to maneuver that complex landscape in 2015 will decide whether younger upstarts like Fitbit, Pebble and Jawbone can keep up with the tech titans - all while traditional companies start making wearables of their own.
In a December 2014 report, Gartner analyst J.P. Gownder laid out the results of a survey asking consumers what features they were most interested in using a wearable for in the future.
While a majority of respondents, 42 percent, said they wanted a wearable for their wrist, none of the top five use cases can be accomplished by modern-day fitness bands with a few exceptions. Those functions included accessing maps, taking photos and video, receiving contextual information about your location, shopping online and performing Web searches.
"Fitness trackers represented the first wave of wearable devices -- they proved out the early use cases. But there's only so much real estate on the wrist," Gownder said in an interview. "So it's only natural that smart watches would co-opt that usage case." Gownder expects Apple Watch to legitimize the market and convince mainstream consumers that never considered a wearable to begin looking at them in a different light.
When it comes time to make the the purchase, giving up the fitness for the features of a device like the Apple Watch, he added, is a "sensible compromise."
Headed into 2015, the wearable market will soon be bidding a slow farewell to the dominance of screen- and app-less fitness wristbands and trackers, like the Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP, and welcoming in the era of smartwatches, with the Apple Watch front and center.
The global fitness wearable market, which includes fitness wristbands, sport watches and smart garments, is expected to shrink next year from 70 million units sold to 68 million, according to a November 2014 report from analyst firm Gartner. Smart wristband shipments are expected to fall by 15 percent to 17 million units, while smartwatches are expected to jump 17 percent to 21 million shipments, eclipsing the former as the most successful wearable design to date.
The problem? Fitness wristbands, as popular as they have been so far, just don't do enough to excite consumers when compared with devices like the Apple Watch and Motorola's Moto 360 smartwatch - or do very little that a smartwatch can't do and more.
"Half the people who would have bought a [fitness] wristband will buy a smartwatch instead next year," Gartner analyst Angela McIntyre concluded.
As wearable technology moves from the fringes to the mainstream, accelerated by the Apple Watch's arrival next spring, companies that have thrived by being first to the scene will soon be facing competition from fashion houses, watchmakers and accessory providers. More than just increased pressure, however, is a decision on how to move forward as consumers abandon one design for another.
Unlike smartphones, tablets and PCs that take obvious shapes and perform many of the same functions, wearables can cover different parts of our bodies and perform a wide variety of functions depending on where they're placed and what other device they're paired with. How to maneuver that complex landscape in 2015 will decide whether younger upstarts like Fitbit, Pebble and Jawbone can keep up with the tech titans - all while traditional companies start making wearables of their own.
In a December 2014 report, Gartner analyst J.P. Gownder laid out the results of a survey asking consumers what features they were most interested in using a wearable for in the future.
While a majority of respondents, 42 percent, said they wanted a wearable for their wrist, none of the top five use cases can be accomplished by modern-day fitness bands with a few exceptions. Those functions included accessing maps, taking photos and video, receiving contextual information about your location, shopping online and performing Web searches.
"Fitness trackers represented the first wave of wearable devices -- they proved out the early use cases. But there's only so much real estate on the wrist," Gownder said in an interview. "So it's only natural that smart watches would co-opt that usage case." Gownder expects Apple Watch to legitimize the market and convince mainstream consumers that never considered a wearable to begin looking at them in a different light.
When it comes time to make the the purchase, giving up the fitness for the features of a device like the Apple Watch, he added, is a "sensible compromise."
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