Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Wearables must align to consumer needs for longtime adoption

New research from Parks Associates reveals 5 percent of U.S. broadband households are home to a smartwatch providing health and fitness tracking features, and 8 percent of households are using a digital fitness activity tracker such as a pedometer. But whether those households will grab more devices or upgrade down the road--and whether more households overall will jump on mHealth device bandwagon--is dependent on greater consumer education about the benefits of such tools, according to the Dallas-based firm.

"Though increased adoption of smartphones is fueling the mobile revolution that includes wearable devices, consumers' all-encompassing desire to use smartphones in all aspects of their lives is creating a dilemma for wearable OEMs," Tejas Mehta, a research analyst covering the mobile and wearable markets, says in an announcement regarding the latest Parks data on mHealth device adoption trends.

"Companies need to rally consumer interest in smart watches by educating them on the unique experiences and benefits of these and other wearables," Mehta says. "Otherwise, the majority of consumers may not see the reason to purchase another device that has similar, if not the same, capabilities as their smartphone."

From the article "Wearables must align to consumer needs for longtime adoption" by Judy Mottl.

Previously In The News

US FCC Not To Investigate Netflix Throttling Of Some Mobile Consumers

That dichotomy could also spill into an ongoing debate in Washington over how strictly to regulate the broadband companies over customer privacy. "This is outside the Open Internet", Wheeler said. Wel...

Facebook Says, Unlike Netflix, It Does Not Degrade Its Video For Mobile

More than half of all US households with broadband subscribe to Netflix, according to Parks Associates. "I predicted this would occur sooner or later", he continued, noting that subjecting all Inte...

Netflix Throttling Did Not Break Rules - FCC

Last week, Netflix acknowledged that it has indeed downgraded video streaming over some mobile networks. "We're at a point where there's so much video traffic going across the Internet", said Glenn...

Tablets Rise Amid Stark Desktop Decline

According to Parks, only 6 per cent of US broadband households rely on desktops exclusively, with an additional 6 per cent of households using only a combination of desktops and tablets. “Desktop a...