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Smart Wireless Accessories will Exceed $23B in 2018

The development of the smartphone and app store model has in turn created an ecosystem of applications within which hardware peripherals can enhance the functionality of the smartphone for specific purposes.

Juniper Research has revealed that hardware and service revenues from app-enabled smart wireless accessories will exceed $23 billion in 2018 -- that's compared to $2 billion this year.

The key areas driving this growth will be fitness, health, consumer clectronics (CE), payments and enterprise devices. This revenue growth will be propelled by four key elements:

An increase in the adoption of the software as a service proposition; the development of additional services delivered within the app; the emergence of a freemium model in fitness and healthcare wearables; and the rise of payment transaction revenues.

Robust Ecosystem needed for Service Model Development

According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, several business models exist within the smart wireless accessories market, defined to some extent by the segments to which they belong.

The development of a robust environment for the creation of peripheral based business models will affect how revenue is generated within the market along with technology standards and regulations playing their part, especially with regard to payments and healthcare accessories.

"The wireless accessory ecosystem is still developing and will evolve over the next five years to become a reality for a much broader audience," said Nitin Bhas, senior analyst at Juniper Research.


Rapid Development Forecast for Payment Accessories

Juniper notes that while new, as yet undeveloped, use cases will emerge in the consumer electronics market over the forecast period, the business case supporting payment smart wireless accessories is both intuitive and credible.

While this supports the rapid development of payment accessories in the medium term, companies are likely to focus on core markets for the foreseeable future, accounting for the market being skewed towards the US, Europe and Far East where services are currently being offered.

Other key findings from the market study include:
  • Smart wireless accessory shipments forecast to approach 170 million by 2018.
  • A multi-channel strategy is essential to gain traction in the race to secure a place in this new market.

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