It is no secret that smartwatches have not yet caught on in the way that people expected them to. While Apple have taken up the largest share of the smartwatch market, they have not brought the level of success to smartwatches that they did with smartphones. A lot of the newest smartwatches made the headlines at Baselworld 2017 but there are people inside the industry already having doubts about the future of the smartwatch revolution.
Today we’re asking the question that some in the industry have already been wondering about – is the smartwatch revolution over?
Doubts Inside the Industry
Only two years ago all of the smart money was on Apple killing off the Swiss watch industry with the watch their long awaited venture into smartwatches. It is almost impossible to suggest that the Apple Watch hasn’t been a success, but it hasn’t been the industry defining device that many imagined it would be. Expectations were very high for the Apple Watch – which was expected to kickstart the smartwatch revolution, just like the iPhone did with smartphones. Against such high expectations, the Apple Watch was always likely to be considered a failure.
The reason that some may declare the smartwatch revolution over has been articulated very well by Huawei CEO Eric Xu Zhijun. The worldwide electronics company do produce a wide variety of smartwatches and smartphones, but its CEO made a point that many would struggle to argue with: “I am always confused as to what smartwatches are for when we have smartphones.”
Working out exactly what unique selling point smartwatches have has been an issue for smartwatch manufacturers from day one. Many of the headline features on smartwatches can be found on other devices – for example – reading messages, taking calls, checking the internet and taking photographs. It also doesn’t help that many smartwatches rely on a connection to your smartphone to allow you to use them. It is unsurprising, for that reason, that for many people – wearing a smartwatch is hardly attractive. Eric Xu Zhijun stated that he wouldn’t wear a smartwatch, even though his company makes them.
Is The Smartwatch Revolution Over?
While smartwatches have not managed to recreate the overnight success of smartphones and tablets, a lot of smartwatches have hit the market over the last few years. It is very similar to the way the iPhone pushed traditional mobile manufacturers like Samsung and Nokia to release their own smartphones. Many Swiss and Japanese watchmakers have released their own smartwatches recently in response to the expected threat of Apple.
The way forward for smartwatches may be for manufacturers to consider what Eric Xu Zhijun stated he does: “When the smartwatch team in Huawei presents their ideas to me with great excitement, I keep reminding them to consider whether there are tangible needs in the market.” It does seem like many smartwatch manufacturers have started to consider what needs potential smartwatch consumers may have. The Apple Watch 2 certainly emphasised the fitness aspects of the device and many traditional manufacturers have decided to fit fitness trackers into their traditional watches to create hybrid smartwatches.
Conclusion
The initial excitement of smartwatches was imagining how amazing it would be to have such exciting technology on your wrist. But the appeal of exciting technology can only go so far. Smartphones and tablets only became appealing to large audiences when they were able to fulfil an important need. As yet, there is no need that smartwatches can fulfil which isn’t already fulfilled elsewhere.
So – is the smartwatch revolution over? The answer is emphatically no! The Apple Watch has been an undoubted success and the number of smartwatches being released on the market has increased drastically in the last two years. Baselworld has been dominated by smartwatch announcements and traditional watch manufacturers have noticed the potential that smartwatches have. However, if the smartwatch revolution is really going to take off they need to find a unique reason to hook potential customers – and fast!
