Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Ring This Up: Smart Wearables Hitting Mainstream Status

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

Previously In The News

NAB Puts The Future Focus On OTT In Vegas

In other OTT highlights Parks Associates will cover their latest research in “Adoption, Churn, and the Risky Lives of OTT Video Services;” while panel “Mobile Video’s Explosion: Personalized TV Has Ar...

'Skinny bundles' step up challenge to US Big Cable

Skinny offerings are aimed at young viewers and "cord cutters" loath to pay $100 or more to be force-fed hundreds of channels in hefty bundles and accustomed to streaming shows they want, when they de...

Summer vacation’s coming, is your home prepared to be left alone?

The majority of U.S. households with broadband connections believe a device that would notify them about smoke and fire alarms is "highly appealing," according to research firm Parks Associates, which...

Canada: Broadband households and interests on smart home services

Brad Russell, research director, Connected Homes, Parks Associates, said: “Canada’s security market is stable but with high attrition rates, which makes market expansion difficult, and the security pr...