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Tag: Smart Glasses

  • Wearable Computing to Grow Quickly in the Years Ahead

    For almost one year now wearable computing has been the tech segment to watch. Though Apple’s rumored iWatch has not yet made an appearance both tech companies and apparel companies have found success with wrist-mounted computing devices. As head-worn gadgets come of age later this year the entire wearable computing segment is now set to finally take off.

    Market research firm IDC today released a report predicting that more than 19 million wearable computing devices will be shipped worldwide this year. This number is more than three times the number of wearables shipped during 2013. The firm also predicts that the segment will grow at an average annual rate of 78.4% through 2018, when nearly 112 million wearable devices are expected to ship.

    Though more robust wearable solutions such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear are expected to lead the market eventually, right now devices such as the Jawbone, Fitbit, and Nike’s FuelBand are top-sellers. IDC is calling these devices “complex accessories” on account of their reliance on smartphones and the firm predicts that they will continue to lead the market over the next four years.

    “Complex accessories have succeeded in drawing much-needed interest and attention to a wearables market that has had some difficulty gaining traction,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager for mobile phones at IDC. “The increased buzz has prompted more vendors to announce their intentions to enter this market. Most importantly, end-users have warmed to their simplicity in terms of design and functionality, making their value easy to understand and use.”

    Beyond 2018 IDC sees smart wearables that need no connection to another device gaining traction in the market. Fully-independent smart watches and headwear such as Google Glass will eventually become major players in the space, though it may take time for these platforms to mature and find their niche.

    IDC’s report also surveyed consumers worldwide about the brands they trust for wearable computing. Oddly enough, Samsung came out on top of the survey as more trusted than even Apple or Google. This could be because Samsung already has a proven place in the wearables market with its moderately successful Galaxy Gear device.

    Image via Samsung

  • Health Products Top the Wearable Computing Market So Far

    There’s plenty of excitement in the tech industry surrounding the coming wave of wearable computing products. Already Samsung has seen limited success with its Galaxy Gear smart watch and fitness bands from companies such as Fitbit and Nike are now taking off as well.

    While tech companies rush to carve out a place in consumer tech, however, the medical industry is quietly dominating the wearable computer segment. A new report out from market research firm ABI Research today revealed that shipments heart rate and “activity monitors” are leading smart watches by quite a bit and will continue to for at least a few more years. The report estimates that nearly 12 million wearable heart rate monitoring devices were shipped last year.

    Wearable devices are expected to become an even more essential part of the healthcare industry in the coming years. Eventually other devices will integrate health monitoring functions into a more general toolset, but not before such products are well-established in the market.

    A similar product trajectory is seen for the fitness bands that are becoming popular. ABI believes these very specific devices will continue to rise in popularity for a few years before their functionality is subsumed by more general products such as smart watches and smart glasses.

    “The market for wearable computing devices is driven by a growing range of wireless connected wearable sports, fitness and wellbeing devices,” said Jonathan Collins, principal analyst at ABI. “Heart rate and activity monitors will outpace shipments of smart watches and glasses for some years to come and they will also provide the essential foundation for the development of the broader wearable market.”

    Image via Fitbit

  • 90 Million Wearable Devices to Ship This Year

    90 Million Wearable Devices to Ship This Year

    This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was full of new wearable computing products from a wide variety of tech companies. It’s clear that those companies are banking on devices such as smart watches as being the next big growth segment for the tech industry, and they may not be entirely wrong.

    Market research firm ABI Research today released a report predicting that 90 million wearable computing devices will be shipped during 2014. Many of these devices will be in the form of smart watches and smart glasses, but the firm believes that only devices tailored the fitness and healthcare sectors will see significant sales and adoption.

    “The next twelve months will be a critical period for the acceptance and adoption of wearable devices,” said Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI. “Healthcare and sports and activity trackers are rapidly becoming mass-market products. On the flip side, wearable devices like smart watches need to overcome some critical obstacles. Aesthetic design, more compelling use cases, battery life and lower price points are the main inhibitors. How vendors approach these challenges and their respective solutions will affect the wearable market far in the future.”

    Overall, ABI sees smart watch and smart glasses devices as being a relatively minor portion of the wearable device market over the coming year, though it does predict that more than two million smart glasses will ship in 2014. Meanwhile, brands not normally associated with tech such as clothing companies could enter the market in force, providing fitness and healthcare solutions more tailored to their customers’ needs.

    Image via Nike

  • Augmented Reality Tech Could Have Business Implications, Says Analyst

    Augmented Reality Tech Could Have Business Implications, Says Analyst

    As the wearable computing industry begins to ramp up this year, Google and other companies already have their sights set on connected eyewear. Devices such as Google Glass are expected to make up a large part of the consumer device market in the coming decade, but the technology could also prove very useful to the enterprise sector as well.

    Market research firm Gartner this week suggested that augmented reality (AR) technology could soon become an important tool for businesses. The implication is that businesses could use AR tech to improve internal communication and collaboration while also speeding up workflows and training.

    AR technology could enable businesses to create enhanced spaces, where their physical infrastructure is combined with a layer of the virtual. The applications for AR could be used to supplement employees’ environmental awareness, as well as provide instant access to information for quicker decision-making. In other words, AR could potentially make nearly everything in a business context more efficient.

    “Augmented reality is the real-time use of information in the form of text, graphics, audio and other virtual enhancements integrated with real-world objects,” said Tuong Huy Nguyen, principal research analyst at Gartner. “AR leverages and optimizes the use of other technologies such as mobility, location, 3D content management and imaging and recognition. It is especially useful in the mobile environment because it enhances the user’s senses via digital instruments to allow faster responses or decision-making.”

    Though AR could potentially have office applications, Gartner believes that the most useful applications for AR technology will come for workers who are more often away from desks, or those that need two hands to work. Surgeons and hospitals in general are an obvious target market for AR, and Google Glass has already been used during at least one surgery. Workers who are often without quick access to information, or who are unable to collaborate in person may also benefit heavily from the technology.

  • Wearable Device Shipments to Hit 130 Million by 2018

    With Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smart watch selling relatively well, it appears that the wearable device market might actually be the big tech segment that manufacturers are hoping for. If so, the competition will be fierce, with clothing manufacturers hoping to stake a claim on the market as well. Already athletic clothing companies such as Nike and Adidas are marketing wearable fitness tech.

    Today yet another analyst firm predicted that wearable computing will, indeed, be the next big tech market. Market research firm Juniper Research this week predicted that the wearable device market will hit 130 million shipments within five years. The market will include devices such as smart watches and smart glasses modeled after Google Glass.

    “Even though wearables are relatively new in terms of market maturity, it is clear that the market, for example the smart watch in particular, will be – as per smartphones – a somewhat crowded affair,” said Nitin Bhas, a senior analyst at Juniper.

    Though the wearable device market will likely take off in the coming years, Juniper also points out that privacy concerns could slow the market considerably. Though fitness-related wearable computing devices and smart watches are natural extensions of the smartphone app ecosystem, smart glasses are beginning to make people uneasy. In addition to their ability to surreptitiously record anyone in public, smart glasses could run into trouble with business owners who refuse to allow patrons to use them.

  • Developers Now Eyeing the Wearable Device Market

    With smartphones now dominating mobile phone sales worldwide, manufacturers are looking past tablets toward the next untapped device market. Judging by the success of the poorly-reviewed Samsung Galaxy Gear, the next big market is shaping up to be wearable devices.

    Market research firm Strategy Analytics predicted that the global wearable device market will hit 125 million units sold by the year 2017. The firm believes that smart watches, smart glasses, and fitness bands will be the biggest sellers in wearable computing over the next five years. In addition to the coming wave of smart watches and the headwear segment that will begin with Google Glass, Strategy Analytics believes that both Apple and Microsoft will be “key vendors” in the years to come.

    “Texas Instruments, Google, and Samsung should be seen as the pioneering vendors for launching products at an early stage in the markets’ life-cycle, but key vendors among the second wave of entrants will include Apple and Microsoft,” said Matt Wilkins, director of Tablets & Wearables at Strategy Analytics.

    With the wearable computing market set to take off, developers are just as eager to jump ahead of the curve as manufacturers are. Strategy Analytics conducted a survey of app developers and found that over 27% of them expect to work on software for wearable computing products within the next year.

    Though the same survey found that over 90% of developers develop for smartphones, slightly fewer of them expect to do so next year. It appears instead that developers are looking toward video game consoles, tablets, smart TVs, and cars as future platforms in addition to wearable devices.

  • Smart Glasses Market to Hit 10 Million Shipments by 2018

    With Google preparing to launch a consumer version of Google Glass sometime next year and Samsung already working on a competing device, the computing eyewear industry is about to either take off or flop in a big way.

    This week, market research Juniper Research released a report predicting that the smart glasses industry will hit 10 million yearly shipments by the year 2018. This is compared to the paltry 87,000 units that shipped this year.

    The report states that by 2018 the prices for smart glasses will fall to levels acceptable for general tech consumers, increasing adoption rates substantially. However, the report also cautions that the technology will never take hold unless some issues are resolved.

    One is obviously the privacy concerns that come along with devices such as Google Glass. Fears about surreptitious video recording and facial recognition technologies have already been voiced. At least one designer has already created a “privacy cover” for Google Glass’ camera.

    In addition to privacy concerns, the Juniper report believes that the devices will have to do more than display information. True smart technologies such as prediction and autonomous functions will be needed to make the smart glasses truly useful.

    “These devices would need to incorporate intuitive and user-friendly functionalities and capture the imagination of the general public making the technology seamless within their daily routine”

    Juniper believes that the enterprise sector will also drive smart glasses sales once the devices realize their potential. The healthcare industry in particular could find them useful for monitoring and diagnostic purposes.