Consumer adoption of smart wearables is now nearly half (48%) of U.S. Internet households, Kristen Hanich, director of research for Parks Associates, told a Connected Health Summit audience Thursday, signaling that the category is “crossing the chasm” -- or moving from early adopters to the mainstream.
Five years ago, “adoption was half of what it is today,” she noted, adding that as the category has evolved, consumers are increasingly turning to service subscriptions on top of the cost of the wearables themselves.
One third of wearable owners now have such subscriptions, Hanich said. These are led by cellular plans, but “fitness and lifestyle subscriptions, premium health insights, and health coaching services are in demand and growing,” she explained.
The wearables market is led by smart watches, “owned and used by roughly a third of U.S. internet households,” Hanich reported, followed by smart scales, and then connected exercise equipment.
Moving up, though, are smart rings and hybrid watches (which look like dumb analog watches despite being smart). Indeed, she said that 12% of households are likely to purchase a smart ring in the next six months, a figure just about equal to those looking to purchase both hybrid watches and GPS sports watches. Smart watches and fitness trackers still lead in consumer want lists, however.
Hanich pointed out that smart rings and hybrid watches have the advantage of being screenless devices.
From the article, "Ring This Up: Smart Wearables Hitting Mainstream Status" by Les Luchter
According to research from Parks Associates, among broadband households planning to purchase a flat-panel TV, 59% in the UK, 57% in France, 53% in Spain and 49% in Germany plan to purchase a 4KTV even...
Thermostats that collect data on you aren’t a hypothetical. In fact, they’re quickly becoming the standard: By 2017, market research firm Parks Associates estimates that more than half of the thermost...
Citing leading provider AT&T, Parks analysts also noted that mobile operators will likely continue to explore new and novel strategies to attract mobile data subscribers. "AT&T is looking to leverage...
“Overall OTT video usage in the UK favours broadcasters,” said the Parks Director, Research, and Connected Consumer in Europe report author Brett Sappington. “The most popular OTT video sources in the...
