Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Wearables spur on health consumerization

The wearables market for health and wellness is on the cusp of a significant stride forward, thanks to modern wearable technologies that provide the means to collect and manage health and wellness data in a more convenient and automated fashion. Parks Associates data shows growth in several wearables categories, including digital pedometers and GPS watches.

Wearable devices and their apps offer new means for consumers to manage their health and wellness. Wearables have emerged for fitness tracking, medical condition management, wellness monitoring, and personal safety assistance, among other use cases. New form factors like earbuds, headbands, patches, and smart fabrics enable the collection of new forms of data and push the use case horizon even further.

Parks Associates wearable device research shows U.S. consumers are interested in the benefits that wearable devices provide for health use cases:

  • 29% of U.S. broadband households own one connected health device, and 12% own multiple connected health devices.
  • More than 60% of future smart watch buyers plan to use a smart watch to track fitness.
  • 35% of U.S. smart watch owners are willing to share data from their device for a health insurance discount. 

From the article "Wearables spur on health consumerization" by Jennifer Kent.

Previously In The News

Challenges For Developers In The Internet Of Things Era

Indeed, in a recent survey carried out by industry analysis provider Parks Associates, two thirds of consumers who were considering switching mobile providers rated managed access to WiFi as part of t...

Nearly Two Thirds of People in the US Are Not Aware of Virtual Reality

A recent study from Parks Associates found that 63% of people in the US are not familiar with and know very little or nothing about virtual reality. With such low levels of awareness amongst people in...

Securing Smart Homes From Hackers

Parks Associates have predicted more than 50 million connected homes by 2020. With that being the scale of device connections, it is high time for developers to prioritise protecting customer data....

Pilot Program Helps Aging Patients Retain Independence Through House Calls

How can the health-care industry create incentives and provide technology to get more Americans to live healthier lifestyles? That was the key question at the Connected Health Summit this week in San...