Wearable market steady despite threat from Apple Watch

The worldwide wearable device market has experienced steady growth in the first economic quarter of 2015, with over 11m wearable devices sold in the first 3 months of the year.

The international Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that vendors sold a total of 11.4m wearable devices in the first quarter of the year. This is a 200 per cent increase on quarter one of last year, where only 3.8m devices were sold.

‘‘Bucking the post-holiday decline normally associated with the first quarter is a strong sign for the wearables market,’’ stated Ramon Llamas, research manager at Wearables, a firm that analyses the emerging market for wearable computing solutions. ‘‘In addition, demand from emerging markets is on the rise and vendors are eager to meet these new opportunities.’’

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The wearable device market has now gained a new competitor. The Apple watch was released in the UK on 24th April and is set to be a popular product for consumers.

‘‘What remains to be seen is how Apple’s arrival will change the landscape,’’ added Llamas. ‘‘The Apple Watch will likely become the device that other wearables will be measured against, fairly or not. This will force the competition to up their game in order to stay on the leading edge of the market.’’

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