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250 Million Wearable Health & Fitness Sensing Devices by 2017 |
San Diego, CA Oct. 31, 2013-- Demand for health and fitness solutions has made 2013 the year of wearable technologies, according to global technology research firm ON World. “Widespread adoption of mobile sensing health and fitness devices has wearable technology companies ramping up production,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director. “This has been made possible by ultra low power wireless communications technologies such as Bluetooth Smart that connects mobile sensors to the Internet seamlessly and effortlessly.” The migration to Bluetooth Smart for mobile health and fitness is accelerating. Bluetooth Smart certified products have increased 380% from January. By 2017, Bluetooth chipsets used for just health, wellness, sports and fitness will reach 95.7 million and much of the growth will be attributed to Bluetooth Smart used in mobile sensing devices. ON World’s evaluation of 200 mobile sensing health and fitness products found that Bluetooth Smart will be used in 59% of the products launched in 2013. What the smart watch launch by Samsung and imminent launch from Google tells us is that wearable technologies are quickly gaining mass market status. While the majority of the wearables today are vertical solutions, IOS and Android platforms will disrupt these offerings with multi-purpose devices using a multitude of sensors and associated apps. For example, smart watches will provide consumers with an advanced communication device that also tracks activity, motion, location and monitors heart rate, air quality and sleep patterns. ON World’s survey of 1,000 consumers found that 40% are interested in purchasing a smart watch and nearly half will use their smart watch primarily for health and fitness applications. In another survey with nearly 300 early technology adopting consumers, ON World found that 37% say it is “important” or “most important” to use their smartphones for fitness/weight management and 20% currently own a wearable technology device such as sports watch, heart rate monitor or activity tracker. Between 2013 and 2017, more than a quarter of a billion wearable health and fitness sensing devices will be shipped worldwide. Based on surveys and interviews with over 2,000 individuals, ON World’s “Mobile Sensing Health & Fitness Set” includes two market research reports, “Mobile Sensing Sports & Fitness” and “Mobile Sensing Health & Wellness.” Each report provides 5-year forecasts for dedicated health/fitness devices, sensors, communication chipsets, health/fitness-enabled smart mobile devices, smart watches, monitoring services, mobile apps and subscriptions. The reports also contain the results from several recently completed surveys and an in-depth analysis of 100+ companies and their products/services. The technologies covered include Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth Smart, WiFi, ZigBee, ANT, BodyLAN, NFC and others. The report synopses and free executive summaries are available from: http://onworld.com/mobilesensing/health-fitness-set/index.html AboutON World: Media contact: Back to News
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