iDATE predicts 123 million Wearables by 2018

 

Today there are roughly 20 million Wearables sold around the world (total 2014), but France-based tech think tank iDATE anticipate that the Wearables will explode in the coming years, reaching a total of 123 million devices sold by 2018. Of that 123 million they predict that connected watches will account a majority, 65% of all wearables sales, with glass, wristbands, and ‘other’ wearables coming in at 18%, 12%, and 5% of total devices sold, respectively.

Long predicted to be the must-have connected device, but yet to live up to the hype, iDATE predicts that 2015 that smartwatches will take-off. Undoubtedly, they’re expecting that Apple will work their magic and do the same for the watch industry that they did for music.
With the rise of connected watches, they predict as well the decline of, arguably, the first entrant into the wearables space, wristbands. They expect that 2017 will be the year when their sales start to trail-off.
Although Google Glass has been put on hiatus, iDATE predicts that connected eyewear will still be a part of the wearables landscape, but limited in its use and popularity. The principal reason for this is the price, which at a predicted average of $1.5k for the forseeable future, will price most consumers out of the market. Another obvious challenge will be the design, techies and consumers alike are still skeptical about. It remains to be seen if established eyewear specialists like Jins Meme, who we highlighted as one to watch at CES and who know a thing or two about designing attractive eyewear, can disprove this prediction.
Want to hear more about the future of wearables and IoT?  Don’t miss out on our Connected Conference coming up on May 28-30th at the Carreau du Temple! You can sign-up for more information and get a 2-for-1 discount here.