wearable tech market trends - q2 2014
DESCRIPTION
What are the biggest trends in the wearables market today? Jen Quinlan, Wearables Specialist, explores the market from makers' and consumers' perspectives to identify areas of opportunity and misstep. If you'd like to contact Jen directly, please find her on Twitter (@quirkyinsider).TRANSCRIPT
THE MARKET
Source: KPCB - Internet Trends Report, May 2013
Key attributes of wearable tech products
Wearables moving faster than the traditional 10 year tech cycle.
Source: KPCB - Internet Trends Report, May 2013
Players across ALL verticals are hungry to get a piece of the WT pie.
Source: Beecham Research, June 2013
WT product manufacturing is happening w/ big and small players.
Wearable tech data interpreted on-the-go with smartphones. United States 2014 Projections:● 90% have a cell phone, 58% have a
smartphone (Pew)
Worldwide 2014 Projections:● 4.55B mobile phone users, 1.75B
smartphone users (eMarketer)
People on average:● Reach for their phone 150x a day (Mary
Meeker, 2013)● 63% check their phone every hour, 9%
every 5 min ● 97% check their phone when in the
presence of family or friends.● 63% would be upset if they left home w/out
their smartphone(Harris Interactive, 2013)
There are less barriers to create new WT product prototypes.
Factors:● Ability to 3D print prototypes
locally for rapid prototyping● Cost of sensors and components
cheap, can go direct to manufacturers to buy
● Bluetooth Low Energy as a platform
● Battery life improvements● Sensor kits to help developers
hack the tech to determine what’s possible
● Funding platforms like Kickstarter
Demand is growing and online marketplaces for WT are emerging.
THE CONSUMER
Most people are interested in wearable tech and desire to buy. Awareness:● 70% of consumers are aware of
wearable tech● 15% are already using wearable
tech
WT product owners today are:● Young (18-34)● 75% consider themselves an
early adopter● 29% HHI greater than $100K● Fitness bands most popular
(61%), smart watches (45%), and mHealth devices (17%)
Motivation to buy:● Depends on the type of device and
perceived benefits it offers when applied to their daily lives
● Smartwatch: convenience, extend their smartphone addiction
● Fitness bands: monitor stuff (57%), concern for health
Limiting factors:● Cost: 72% said wish wearables were
less expensive● Design: 62% desire other form
factors● Fashion: 53% want products that
look more like jewelry
Source: Nielsen, March 2014.
Users haven’t shaped their preferences. Willing to wear WT many places on the body.
Source: Forrester, June 2013
Common questions a user asks before buying a WT productWearable tech is still about the 4 P’s - product, place, price and promotion:
● What benefit does it provide to me?● Would I actually wear it? Daily?● Am I willing to pay that much for it? ● Does it actually work?● Are the insights it provides meaningful?● Is it accurate? ● What will others think?● Will I want to continue wearing it? ● Will it break? Is it reliable?
How a consumer thinks about a WT product
Easy to transfer data to your phone?
Can it get wet?
Will the battery last?
Is it easy to put on?
Comfortable to wear? Look dumb
wearing it?
Is it cool? Will others
like it?Is it fashionable?
Is it easy to set up?
Is it accurate?
But, a lot of products are missing the mark.
Gaps in users’ expectations versus actual product experience.
It will take time for society to get used to wearables.
And it has to work...
Common Oversights w/ Wearable Products Today
The product is worn 24-7 and that is an intimate thing. OversightYour relationship with the user is not completed after the transaction is done and the product is shipped.
It’s personal. Things people wear on their bodies daily are personal: a wedding band, undergarments, glasses to help them see, a favorite necklace, Spanx make them appear skinnier.
How to adapt:● Your relationship with the user is daily AND evolving.
Listen to them and consider it a relationship - not a one-time transaction.
● The product needs to be designed extremely well for them to want to wear it 24-7.
● Think within the legacy of things worn daily (jewelry) - they adhere to users’ sense of style and personal taste. Body adornments are a reflection of who we are.
There is no “one size fits all”. Focus on a target audience.OversightBodies are different. Tastes are different. So why are a lot of WT products “for everyone”?
Who is your target audience?Once the fad of putting on a wearable because it is new has worn off, for users to continue wearing a product they’ll have to be passionate about the benefits it provides to them as an individual.
How to adapt:● Have focus. Target a particular audience. ● Understand their pain points and needs. ● Involve them in your product design process. ● Market the solution to them. ● It’s iterative. Gather feedback, refine, repeat.
Fancy pedometer for sale. Can it be accurate too?OversightMany WT products on the market today directionally give users insights on their activity levels, however they aren’t able to provide an accurate reading for my body.
OpportunityMany WT products will be returned or thrown away as users understand they aren’t accurate or don’t have the capabilities they desire. Quickly word of mouth will reign for those products that are designed well and actually work to track a range of activities.
Question to AnswerDo you have a short-term business strategy to sell a lot of WT units and get bought out, or a long-term strategy to be a market leader and up-sell software or services?
We’re selling the ability to influence behavior with data. OversightSome brands are approaching wearables as a feature rich LIVESTRONG band. It’s deeper than that. It is about enabling the user to achieve a certain behavior or goal.
OpportunityDon’t overlook the behavior psychology aspects of your product.
Question Guide● Is the product goofy or embarrassing to wear (Glass)? ● Why do I want to wear it? ● How do I feel when I wear it? ● Why will I continue to wear it? ● How do I relate to others when I wear it? ● What does it help me accomplish? ● What does accomplishing this goal mean to me?
Behavior is the leading cause of premature death.
Go after a target audience and address
THEIR needs.
Activity Trackers - Fitness / WellnessWhat do they do?● Activity Tracking● Sleep Monitoring● Heart Rate Monitoring● Augmenting Nutrition
Plans● Coaching
Who are they for?● Professional & D1
Collegiate Athletes● Team Training● Individuals● Families● Weightloss Market
What’s the bigger markets?● Professional / Collegiate Athlete
From Nike to Adidas, sporting equipment manufacturers are seeking ways to help athletes improve their performance. Also sports analytics firms like Catapult (just invested in by Mark Cuban) are popping up to bring “Nate Silver” stats to all playing fields.
● Corporate Wellness Programs / InsuranceFitLinxx helps large corporations roll out wearables with wellness programs to decrease their insurance premiums while helping their workforce get healthier.
● Weight Loss MarketIt will be no time before Jenny Craig or Biggest Loser are releasing their own branded versions of Fitbit to appeal to their user base.
Insight: Integration of WT + Calorie TrackingMapMyFitness was acquired by Under Armour in 2013. Get ready for calorie-tracking for fitness sites to integrate with WT data to give users a full picture of what they intake and burn.
Activity Trackers - Fitness / WellnessSegmentation by Age
● InfantMimo, onesie that measures the baby’s breath while it sleeps.
● ChildrenDisney Magic Bands’ ecosystem deliver once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Tile helps you protect things you fear losing. Tracer is a wrist wearable to keep your kids safe.
● Youth - TeenNEX Band, modular wrist wearable targeted at Tweens to Teens.
● AgingCarePredict helps seniors maintain their independence, GE / Intel several years ago launched Care Innovations to tackle similar problems. See article on Wearables for Boomers.
Insight: Rise of the Quantified FamilyFamilies will monitor their collective activities. Remote monitoring of oldest family members to ensure they are safe. Stress or fitness goal monitoring for parents. Entertainment experiences and safety monitoring of the youngest.
● Weight TrainingThe PUSH Strength. Kiwi Move
● SwimmingInstabeat.
● RunningAdidas miCoach system.
● Soccer Adidas Smart Ball
● SnowboardingRecon Snow 2
● BikingRecon Jet. Turn signal gloves.
● TennisBabolat racquet
Activity Trackers - Fitness / WellnessSegmentation by Age
The Push - strength system
Atlas Wearables - sensors combine data from three separate axes along with your heart rate in order to identify what exercise you are currently doing, and whether or not you are using proper form
“We are revolutionizing the game of soccer with the new micoach technology for elite teams.” - Herbert Hainer, Group CEO
http://www.catapultsports.com
Insight: Pro Athlete WT Market Heats UpProfessional athletes track all their metrics to gain a fraction of a competitive edge. We’ll see pro teams increase awareness of tracking your body’s stats with wearable tech. Consumers will gain comfort seeing pro athlete WT data integrated on multimedia (like ESPN). Consumer products will follow, as they want to mimic their athlete “heros” (I want to be like Mike, Bo Knows, etc.)
WEARABLES IN THE WORKFORCE
Example: Heads Up Displays● Medical Professionals (see http://pristine.io)
Documenting surgeries, getting a second opinion from remote specialists, disaster relief situation with specialist support from afar.
● Entertainment & SportsFirst-person storytelling to enrich the fan’s experience and unlock advertising opportunities. See The Pacers.
● Field Workers See Vuzix & SAP example. Work nearly hands-free to improve productivity, gain specialist second opinion in the field.
● Public Safety Workers / Civil ServantsObtain just-in-time critical information that can make a big different in a life or death situation, monitor safety of peers in the field (oxygen levels of firemen).
● Customer ServicePersonalized and premium customer service experiences to differentiate the brand and add value. Think retail with luxury brands.
Wearables Helping People with Different Abilities
Seizure detection and mobile alerts.
Hands-free computing with Glass for quadriplegics.
Detection of others’ emotions to improve interpersonal skills of people with learning disabilities.
Other ways to differentiate your
WT product
Color Preference
Ability to Transform
http://www.misfitwearables.com
Ability to Personalize
Entry-Level vs. Luxury
https://toq.qualcomm.com $350
http://www.imsmart.com $350
Pebble, $198
Martian Watch, $300
IbisRevealed at Mobile World Congress 2014. Rumored to be the first luxury smartwatch ($400+ price point)
MaterialsLook to jewelry industry for inspiration. Fashion designers will seek a variety of materials to make wearable products nearly “hidden” within jewerly.
Co-BrandingThe time will come when you don’t need to create your own wearable from scratch to have a product in the market. You’ll just need to license the technology and co-brand it.
‘Smart’ WearablesWe’ll see wearable products emerge that aren’t jammed full of the perfect algorithms. Instead, they’ll come with the ability to go into a learning mode to understand your body and which exercises you do.
Atlas Wearables - sensors combine data from three separate axes along with your heart rate in order to identify what exercise you are currently doing, and whether or not you are using proper form.
Software makes the WT meaningful.
Otherwise you’re just wearing a goofy bracelet.
A wearable tech product is actually two products in one:
● The physical product worn with technology inside.● The accompanying software to make the data generated
by the wearable meaningful to the user.
Both, combined, have to work well for a user to be happy.
http://otter.mutualmobile.com/493325070,462638897,461125277,564157241
How does WT product software stack up?
Detail: Fuelband
http://otter.mutualmobile.com/493325070
Detail: Jawbone
http://otter.mutualmobile.com/461125277
http://otter.mutualmobile.com/462638897
Detail: Fitbit
Detail: Misfit Shine
http://otter.mutualmobile.com/564157241
