The wearable technology industry is just learning to crawl. Sure, everyone carries a smartphone on their person at all times, and the 80s saw those cool light-up sneakers, but the tech is not quite ubiquitous yet. In short, the human race has a few more years in them before we become awesome cyborg constructs hellbent on world destruction having fun. Just how many years? Well if this recently released report is to be believed, about four.
In four years, the market for wearable wireless devices is expected to achieve minimum revenues of $6 billion, according to new research from IMS Research, a subsidiary of IHS. Want to break that down even further? Right now there are approximately 14 million items on the market that feature wearable technology. By 2016 there will be 171 million.
“A $6 billion market in 2016 is our most conservative forecast which assumes that the adoption of wearable technology will be limited by factors including lack of suitable technology, poor user compliance and lack of an overall enhanced experience from devices that are wearable as compared to non-wearable products,” said Theo Ahadome, senior analyst at IMS Research.
This is due, in part, to Google’s forthcoming Project Glass smartglasses as well as a host of smartwatches, including a device rumored to be currently in development at Apple. The fitness industry is also expected to continue releasing popular devices such as Nike+ and other monitoring gadgets. In short, the wearable technology industry knows no bounds. We’ll see you in 2016!
We’ll also see you before then, that just seemed like the right to say.
