One Dashboard to Rule Them All: A Clear View into the Wearable Technology Market

Wearable technology has remained a hot topic in recent years. Against the backdrop of increasingly granular market segmentation and the continuous emergence of related companies and products, there is a growing demand for a tool that can provide a simple and intuitive overview of this landscape. In response to this need, nuviun has developed a dashboard that offers clear insights into the wearable technology market.

The wearable technology market dashboard data presented below is sourced from the Wearable Technology (WT) database developed by Crowdflower, which compiles data on available WT products from Google and Amazon, with data current as of January 2015. The dashboard provides an overview of WT product pricing, categories, countries of manufacture, and body areas where the devices are worn.

The United States dominates the wearable technology market, with its brands Garmin and Polar offering the most extensive product ranges. By clicking on the Garmin section in the chart, we can see three types of WT products manufactured by the company (wrist-worn, head-mounted, and chest-strapped). Japan ranks second, boasting a series of highly competitive WT brands such as Casio, Sony, and Omron.

Most wearable devices are worn on the waist, chest, and wrist (not on the head). Most gadgets cost less than $100, but in January 2015, the Polar RS800CX GPS Heart Rate Monitor sold for nearly $500. (We list more affordable alternatives below.)

With the launch of the Apple Watch, many small wearable technology brands may begin to struggle for survival. This new competitor is well-funded and aggressive, and its devices can connect to the widely adopted iPhone and iPad—a capability that most other brands currently cannot match. Brand competition will likely not be a price war, but rather a contest in UX/UI. Connectivity, design, and accuracy will ultimately provide competitive advantages in the wearable technology sector.

When will consumers be able to purchase fully functional wearable technology devices?

Wearable technology manufacturers are developing their products for specific markets. But is an all-in-one multifunctional device still feasible?

In other words, in the future, will consumers still need to carry multiple wearable devices connected to various parts of their bodies, or will a single all-in-one device suffice? Looking at the market, WT manufacturers are still struggling to meet consumers’ demands for products that are “simpler” and “more transparent.”

Future: Which Brands Will Dominate the Market?

Companies such as Casio and Garmin have created many different types of wearable technology products. Even for the same product category, such as watches, different brands offer their own distinct versions. In the increasingly competitive consumer wearable electronics market, it remains unclear which approach will prove more successful: the homogeneous competition driven by product variety or Apple’s “one-device-fits-all” strategy. With the emergence of the Apple Watch, it is foreseeable that a range of competitive alternatives from companies like Samsung and Sony will appear in the market.

As for how this wave of new products will impact healthcare, further assessment is still required. In the current database, there are only 43 entries related to medical wearable technology, indicating a relatively low presence.

Compiled by Chen Xin | Edited by Mo Renying