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Smartwatches: Good for telling time, but not for collecting clinical data (yet)

September 02, 2014

"Healthcare is not enough to stand alone" on a smartwatch platform, says Harry Wang, director of mobile product and health research for Parks Associates. "It needs to be part of a platform that supports many other activities (to gain broad consumer acceptance) … and we're not there yet."

"I can see it for wellness and fitness, yes, but for healthcare? No."

The interest is there, and growing. According to Parks Associates, the number of connected digital trackers sold worldwide rose from 6.6 million in 2012 to 13.6 million in 2013 and is expected to soar to 22 million by the end of this year. And smartwatches – which Wang said are also tracked separately – are expected to reach 18 million in worldwide units sold this year and skyrocket to 121 million in 2018.

From the article "Smartwatches: Good for telling time, but not for collecting clinical data (yet)" by Eric Wicklund.

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