Wear

Apple Watch Series 5: More Variety, Less Spice

Since its launch five years ago, Apple has worked to provide users with strong additional value in each iteration of its market-leading Apple Watch. While the Apple Watch Series 5 is mostly a carryover from the Series 4 in terms of form factor and features, Apple’s continued focus on health and wellness usability and strong sales momentum will keep the device as the leading new smartwatch on the market.

Google Finally Doubling Down on Wear OS

Google has announced that it is buying wearable tech intellectual property rights - along with an un-named number of engineers – from the Fossil Group for $40 million. This move could indicate that the tech giant is finally getting serious about the development of its Wear OS platform after seeing its share of the smartwatch market fall below 25 percent, according to NPD’s latest Consumers and Wearables survey. The purchase of Fossil IP could also lay the groundwork for the eventual launch of a long rumored Google branded Pixel smartwatch.

Amazon Extends Its Platform Mentality Even Further Into Devices

Yesterday Amazon unleashed a tidal wave of new products, from clocks and microwaves, to an in-car Echo, and a bevy of music devices. But what is most interesting is likely not the overwhelming quantity or specifics of every item, but the clear path Amazon continues to take in both owning and partnering within its ecosystems.

Apple Watch Series 4: A Change Of Heart

With the launch of the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple has further separated itself from the smartwatch pack with larger edgeless screens, better resolution, and a sleeker design. However, the biggest shift heralded in by the Series 4 is a clear pivot by Apple towards the wellness and healthcare market and away from focusing primarily on fitness.

CES in Review

The show when:
- Blockchain, AI, VR and other buzzwords
- Hey Google!
- One well placed rant
- The robot uprising has begun
- Not all robots were feisty
- Time for a new body?

Peering into a Wearable Future

For a category that has faced much skepticism, it’s hard to argue that the wearable tech category has not been a success story so far. In fact, NPD expects that total ownership of activity trackers and smartwatches among U.S. adults will stand at nearly 77 million devices by the end of 2017. However, the market is becoming increasingly complex in the face of innovation and changing consumer demands. 2018 will see even more dramatic shifts in the evolution of the wearable tech space than we have seen in the previous two years.

Blame it on the Moon

The U.S. is number four in the list of innovative countries worldwide, according to a June 2017 Business Insider article. On the surface, it's a puzzling rank. This is, after all, the country that put a man on the moon (and maybe will again soon), built the initial Internet, and is home to many of the major tech companies, such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. And yet, Switzerland, Sweden, and the Netherlands all rank higher for innovation. Ouch.

The Smartwatch Boom is Here

For a product that was criticized by many only a short time ago, the smartwatch has regained momentum in the U.S. market. Indeed, far from being a failed product, we expect U.S. smartwatch ownership to surpass that of the cheaper and more ubiquitous activity tracker by the end of 2020.

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