The Case Against Wearables
One issue surrounding wearables is tough to argue: At this point the market is well-established, meaning that any potential new wearable upstarts will have a tough road ahead of them. But the incumbents are shutting down. What’s the problem? Hardware is tough. Here’s Engadget’s dismal assessment: Some companies are certainly doing well: Fitbit, Ziaomi, and Apple are constantly fighting for the top three positions in the wearables market. But that state of affairs masks how poorly any competitors are doing: As the Engadget article notes, it’s not a wearables market so much as an Apple Watch market.
The Case for Wearables
There’s clearly a need for wearables, at least in specific industries, notably health and fitness. Health experts like Coach Sarah Walls, personal trainer and owner of SAPT Strength & Performance Training, Inc., have a lot to say about the benefits they see wearables contributing to the sector: Writing at VentureBeat, Emil Protalinski makes the argument that wearables are gimmicks currently, but could continue evolving to encompass the data-driven solutions that they’ll need to be in order to survive. If properly interpreted, heart rate monitors and apps that track sleep can show possible signs of an individual who may be getting sick or is at risk of overtraining.” Wearables aren’t dead yet. Fitbit and Apple’s markets are going strong. But they’ll need to continue evolving in order to avoid the pitfalls that have already sucked up Jawbone and Intel’s wearables division. I strongly believe this is coming. But until the technology arrives, I’m not surprised that startups are folding and tech giants are looking elsewhere,” Emil states.
