Ericsson’s report on wearable technology & the IoT explores consumer views on it, how and when wearables might break beyond health and wellness scenarios and cover more diverse needs.
The wearables market is still in the early phases of expansion, and currently dominated by health, wellness and activity tracking devices – despite industry developments pointing to an increasing number of use cases.
Key findings from Ericsson’s “Wearable Technology and the Internet of Things” report
- Wearables become the most personal devices.
- Two in five users of wearables say they feel naked when not wearing their device, with one in five even sleeping with it on.
- Despite this, a quarter of those who have bought wearables in the past three months say their expectations have not been met.
“Although consumers show greatest interest in devices related to safety, we also see an openness to wearable technology further away from today’s generation. In five years’ time, walking around with an ingestible sensor, which tracks your body temperature and adjusts the thermostat setting automatically once you arrive home, may be a reality,” says Sing Sethi, Ericsson’s ConsumerLab spokesperson for the report.
- Consumers predict the wearables inflection point to be beyond 2020.
- 6 out of 10 smartphone users are confident that wearables will have uses beyond health and wellness.
- Consumers predict that most wearables ideas will only become mainstream beyond 2020. However, current users of wearables believe the development will be much faster.
- Internet of Things (IoT) future shaped by wearables.
- 74 percent believe multiple wearables and sensors will help them interact with other devices and physical things around them, whilst 1 in 3 smartphone users believes they will wear at least 5 wearables beyond 2020.
- Thus, a setback in wearables adoption might delay the overall adoption of the IoT among consumers.
- Wearables manufacturers as personal data brokers
- 70 percent of users of wearables perceive wearables manufacturers to be very serious about protecting their data.
- In fact, users of wearables are more likely to share their data with wearables manufacturers than with doctors, insurance companies and internet companies.
- A new role for smartphones in the wearables future.
- 43 percent of those surveyed believe smartphones will be replaced by wearables, while 40 percent of smartwatch users already interact less with smartphones today.
- As wearables get smarter, the smartphone may become a secondary screen.
Tags: Business IT, Ericsson, Internet of Things, IoT, wearables