Digital Lifescapes

Wearable devices have been in existence for a number of decades, but it's only recently that they have captured the imagination of the general public. Juniper Research has revealed that the retail revenue from smart wearable devices -- including smart watches and glasses -- will reach $19 billion by 2018 compared with $1.4 billion this year. Moreover, revenues will be driven by high price points for these devices allied to their anticipated strong market demand. Based on the findings from its latest market study, Juniper has revised upwards the adoption of devices in the two key segments of consumer electronics ‘Multimedia & Entertainment’, and ‘Multi-functional’ devices. Revisions such as these are common in the early years of a new technology category, and reflect the latest announcements from vendors across the sector. "It is worth observing that this change in adoption levels can also be attributable to heightened consumer awareness of wearable technology and a...

Underpinning the emerging mHealth and mFitness markets are two sectors, healthcare and health & fitness. The trends in those two industries define how the adjacent mHealth and mFitness markets develop. Together, they form the basis for a multimillion dollar global market opportunity. The next five years will see a major shift towards smartphone-based mHealth, where hardware attachments link to companion app on the smartphone, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. They now forecast that by 2018 there will be 96 million users of app-enabled mHealth and mobile-fitness hardware devices, that's up from 15 million this year. In the healthcare sector, app-enabled mHealth will be used to provide services ranging from remote patient monitoring to mobile ultrasound services. How mFitness will Set the Pace However, the market study found that it will be the mFitness sector that will experience strongest growth in the short and medium term. This growth wi...