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

AI and machine learning could goose home security and monitoring sector—report

Do-it-yourself security systems will cause some shifts in the residential security market as more than two million broadband homes will have a self-monitored system by year's end. According to rese...

Evolution of the 4th Utility: Fixed Broadband

In-home broadband has become "the fourth utility" in United States households, many of which have multiple connected devices and viewing screens. More than 85 percent of U.S. homes have broadband serv...

The VR Experience: Challenges for a Growing Market

The various VR technology approaches present unique user experience issues that current-generation VR headsets have yet to solve. Feedback on the user experience from those who own or have tried VR...

Who's Your Buddy? The Evolution of OTT Video Partnerships

Due to the increased competition and number of partnerships, OTT video service penetration will increase by more than 85 million households from 2017 through 2022, Parks Associates has estimated, and...