Poll results: Do you own a smart wearable (smartwatch, smartband, etc.)?
First, there was the hype. Everybody and their dog was getting real excited about the idea of tiny wrist computers that could, praised be the gods, end up as lucrative new revenue stream for both superstar and stalling manufacturers. Then reality kicked hype's behind real nasty, and we quickly had to come to grips with the facts of the day: wearables are simply an extension of our smartphones. Even a few years later, us and manufacturers both are having a hard time justifying them. Which is not to say we don't partake, of course. And as it turns out, our readers do, too, and in seemingly growing numbers. Case in point: our yesterday poll asking you to note whether you use smart wearables.
Over 50% of participants say they own one or another type of smart wearable. More specifically, a little over 30% of our readers claim they own a smartwatch, while ~13% have a smartband—like a fitness tracker or similar. About 8% own at least two smart wearables, leaving us with ~48% of the sample that don't partake. But how do we identify whether wearables are a seemingly growing trend? By putting the numbers side by side with an identical poll from May 2015.
In that time window, ownership of smart wearables shot up by some 15% within our readership, though do keep in mind that the size of the samples is different, and these numbers are affected by other factors. For example, it's typically the really engaged segment of our audience that takes parts in polls, so power users—who are more likely to own wearables— are over-represented. In the real world, wearables have definitely not yet reached 50% market penetration, though our belief is that they're trending up, if slowly.
Wearables may not end up as the huge product category we were all hoping for, but by all means, they seem to be here to stay.
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