Depending on whom you ask, wearable devices such as smartwatches will either be relegated to consumer playthings or end up playing a vital role in business and IT strategies at companies of all sizes. This piece takes a deep dive into what analysts and research studies say about the role wearables will play in business in the coming years — and look at how developers can take advantage of existing tools to explore wearable applications today.
What Analysts Say About the Growth of Wearables
Analysts universally agree that the wearable market is poised for takeoff. Gartner forecasts that worldwide wearable device sales will generate total revenue of $28.7 billion (274.6 million units) in 2016, up 18.4 percent over 2015 (232 million units). A big chunk of that will come from smartwatches — $11.5 billion this year – and leading the way will be the Apple Watch. Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner, explains, “From 2015 through 2017, smartwatch adoption will have 48 percent growth largely due to Apple popularizing wearables as a lifestyle trend. Smartwatches have the greatest revenue potential among all wearables through 2019, reaching $17.5 billion.”
