Digital Lifescapes

The wearable technology sector growth was largely a story about the smartwatch: a premium product anchored around a single wrist, sold at a steep price, and adopted primarily by the health-conscious and the tech-savvy. That narrative is now changing in ways that are genuinely interesting to anyone tracking the intersection of Applied-AI, consumer electronics, digital health, and connectivity infrastructure. The latest worldwide market study by ABI Research offers a timely and data-rich window into just how fast that transformation is unfolding. Wearables Market Development Wearable device shipments are projected to grow from 402.96 million in 2026 to 544.08 million by 2031, as vendors broaden access to advanced health, fitness, and connectivity features at more affordable price points. That is not incremental growth; it represents a meaningful expansion of who is wearing smart technology and why. Equally compelling is the revenue picture: the category is expected to generate $44.22 bil...

Let's get real, and update this market outlook. What's the overall size of the Augmented and Mixed Reality market, for both devices and the value chain? We have the answer. With investment and interest growing exponentially, the augmented reality market is set to grow at a significant rate over the next five years. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, nearly 40 million Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses will ship in 2027, with the total augmented and mixed reality market surpassing $220 billion in the same year. According to the ABI assessment, much of this growth will stem from the consumer AR market on the back of new hardware and content, but the enterprise AR space will also continue to show strong growth. Augmented Reality Market Development "It is impossible to miss news surrounding the augmented reality market today, both from the fascinating metaverse side and the more grounded and short-term augmented reality opportunities and investme...

Wearable technology adoption has reached a turning point in developed markets across the globe. Berg Insight released its latest findings of the connected wearables market. Shipments of connected wearables reached 116.8 million worldwide in 2018. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent, total shipments of smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness & activity trackers, smart clothing, mobile telecare and medical devices as well as other wearable devices are forecasted to reach 238.5 million units in 2023. Wearable Device Market Development Bluetooth will remain the primary connectivity option in the coming years. A total of 67.7 million of the wearables sold in 2023 are forecast to incorporate embedded cellular connectivity, mainly in the smartwatch and telecare or medical device categories. The connected fitness & activity tracker segment is led by Chinese Xiaomi, which has been successful with its Mi Band fitness tracker. Fitbit is still among the lar...

Many CIOs and CTOs are pursuing a competitive advantage that's enabled by emerging technologies. As an example, early-adopters in the automobile industry are exploring use cases with Augmented Reality (AR), because it offers benefits to the whole value chain -- from product design through production and sales. As a result, smart glasses shipment for global automotive industry use will reach 1.7 million units in 2022. The total automotive AR market is expected to grow at CAGR of 177 percent during the forecast period and reach $5.5 billion in 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. Augmented Reality Apps Market Development "Augmented Reality benefits automotive manufacturers at many stages of a product cycle, including design, prototyping, manufacturing, and marketing," said Marina Lu, senior analyst at ABI Research . In design, digital 3D visualization and analysis of body structure and components can save time and resources. Collabor...

The global retail sector has been greatly impacted by the shift to online eCommerce. That being said, remarkable in-store innovation continues to transform the retailer employee and customer experiences. Retailers are beginning to use wearable technology to improve processes and customer satisfaction. Retailer wearables provide in-store employees with access to information such as stock levels, as well as to facilitate communication with team members. This allows shopper requests to be resolved faster and ensures that the employee continues to interact with the customer, improving the overall shopping experience. Retail Wearables Market Development ABI Research forecasts enterprise retail wearable shipments will reach nearly 10 million in 2022, increasing from just 2 million in 2017 -- that's a CAGR of 38 percent. This makes retail one of the fastest growing enterprise wearable verticals, with numerous devices improving store operations. Devices such as smartwatches, smar...

Wearables have gained some momentum with fitness bands and smart watches for consumers. Fitbit and Apple are the key category leaders in these markets, with others providing alternative ecosystems around similar functionality. Early adopters and the fitness conscious embraced these devices, but there's been little growth beyond this market segment. Now that's about to change, with commercial applications for smart glasses and the development of compelling new use cases. Smart Glasses Market Development Smart Glasses are the highest growth sector of the consumer wearables segment over the next five years, reaching 11 percent of the overall wearables market by 2021, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. Revenues are forecast to grow from $327 million in 2017, to $9 billion in 2021 as the new generation of smart glasses emerges. The new study also found that the dominant wearables categories of smart watches and fitness wearables, have begun to slow. ...

Shipments of connected wearables reached 72.5 million in 2015, that's up from 25.3 million devices in the previous year, according to the latest worldwide market study by Berg Insight. Many of these devices have become a significant part of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) phenomena. Increasing by a compound annual growth rate of 25.8 percent, total global shipments of smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness & activity trackers, people monitoring & safety devices and medical devices as well as other wearable devices are forecasted to reach 228.3 million units in 2020. Moreover, Bluetooth will remain the primary M2M wireless connectivity option in the coming years. However, a total of 17.8 million of the wearables sold in 2020 are forecasted to incorporate embedded cellular connectivity, mainly in the smartwatch and people monitoring & safety categories. Apple entered the connected wearables market in Q2-2015 and quickly became the leading smartwatch vendor. The ...

Over the last 18 months, the wearables market has started to mature and has grown considerably with new players introducing numerous products -- such as fitness bands, smartwatches, smart glasses, and other sensor-enabled devices. Using data compiled from approximately 328,000 consumer reviews since January 2014, the latest market study by Argus Insights reveals that after the holiday season of 2013, consumers briefly lost interest in wearables before steadily increasing demand reached its high point in January 2015 where it was four times the level of a year earlier. Since then, however, demand has slowed. According to the report, all the media buzz about the Apple Watch introduction stole consumer interest away from Fitbit and other wearables, as potential buyers waited to determine whether they wanted the Apple Watch. Interest in Fitbit devices resumed and grew once the Apple Watch details were announced, as Fitbit and other wearable manufacturers saw a strong 2014 holiday p...

To some people, smart glasses are a "cool" new gadget. They're one of the most innovative developments in the emerging wearable technology market. It is the product segment closest to an imagined future for many tech-savvy consumers. The current reality of smart glasses, however, has proven to be somewhat different -- with emerging privacy concerns, dismissal of the initial devices as ugly and questions about exactly how useful the devices are in day-to-day life. According to the findings from the latest market study by Juniper Research , a combination of lengthy time-to-market and the lack of a compelling use-case has resulted in low levels of shipments and adoption within the smart glasses marketplace. The Juniper market study findings estimated that shipments of smart glasses were unlikely to exceed 10 million units per year until 2018. Juniper expects sales to be buoyed slightly by fresh releases by several key industry players in 2015-2016 -- including Samsun...

The idea of wearable technology as a mass market category is relatively new and still quite volatile -- where the expectations of change are very high. Moreover, some analysts say that user demand in the wearables market has already arrived, despite the relatively low adoption rates. Research has also shown that retention rates for certain wearable devices are much lower than originally anticipated. However, this has not dampened the consumer electronics industry enthusiasm for wearable devices -- a case in point being the introduction of the Apple Watch this week. The latest market study findings from Juniper Research  has revealed that the global retail revenue from smart wearable devices are now forecast to treble by 2016, before reaching $53.2 billion in 2019. The smart wearables market will be driven by an increase in sales of premium (very expensive) smart watches and smart glasses over the next five years. This new market study assessment asserts that the recent entr...

The mobile software apps industry has continued its creative evolution; as an example, adopting better image recognition. This is a positive advancement for the mobile platform, as it will enable a greater range of applications. In particular, savvy digital marketers will benefit from the new capabilities. Juniper Research has found that annual revenues from mobile augmented reality (AR) services and applications will reach $1.2 billion by 2015 -- that's up from just over $180 million last year. Juniper's latest global market study found that games -- which accounted for more than 40 percent of AR downloads in 2013 -- will continue to deliver the largest revenue stream for the foreseeable future. However, it observed that with AR increasingly deployed within mainstream lifestyle, enterprise and general entertainment applications, each of these sectors should achieve annual mobile AR revenues in excess of $1 billion within 5-6 years. How Brand Engagement is Boosting ...

Smart wearable devices were characterized as 'cool' technology by the introduction of the Google Glass collection, but commercial success will come slowly to this nascent product category. Granted, wearable technology will be defined by the diversity of creative new products -- yet it's likely that only the devices with a crystal clear use-case will succeed in the marketplace. ABI Research forecasts the wearable device sales volumes in 2014 will come from healthcare and sports and activity trackers. Meanwhile, the commercial launch of several smart glass products, including Google Glass, will continue to drive interest in the wearable space. But it won't be a significant commercial success in 2014. "The next twelve months will be a critical period for the acceptance and adoption of wearable devices," says Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research . Healthcare and sports related devices are conceptually mass-market products. However, wearable devices l...

A "smart wearable" product is an app-enabled computing device which is worn on, or otherwise attached to the body, while being used. In some cases a wearable device is also considered a fashion accessory. Most wearable devices are always on and accessible at any time with a constant interaction between the user and the device. This definition covers a wide range of devices from watches to displays which can either work independently or in conjunction with an external platform -- such as the smartphone or media tablet. The outlook for wearable technology applications is very bright. New findings from a recent market study has revealed that the smart wearable device shipments -- including smart watches and smart glasses -- will approach 130 million by 2018, that's 10 times more than was forecast for 2013. The study, performed by Juniper Research, notes that market development activities in 2014 will likely add new vendor momentum and increased early-adopter user appli...