When people talk about wearable devices, they say that these products will be the next gadget that will take over the popularity of tablets, which were actually initiated and are led by Apple. Due to the possibility of a huge booming-up in this market and strategic reasons, many companies as well as key players such as Apple, Google, and Samsung have jumped into this market. Until now, the device seemed to be limited to wristwatches and glasses. However, the products are differentiated by their focus areas, resulting in diverse types of products to meet customer needs. Can wearable device succeed in this market and what would be the best way to approach this market efficiently?
Wearable devices in the market can be divided into three groups: fitness trackers, smart watch, and intelligent agent. Firstly, the fitness wrist-bands such as Jawbone Up and Nike Fuel Band provide simplified functions: wake-up call and checking out consumed calories from work-out among others. Although specifications are little bit different from each other, these products pursue the almost same direction that are pertinent to get consumers’ basic behaviors and information based on their management tool. Relatively, prices of these products are more affordable than other types of wearable gadgets and have clarified targeting consumers who are sensitive to fashion and work-out as well as being IT device-friendly. Also, these devices operate for a long time with a single charge of battery and the control menus are easy to navigate. Many people think of these products as not an actual wearable device but an electronic fashion item because of these characteristics.
Secondly, in light of smart watches, many users are skeptical of their performance compared to their high price. Recently, there is news that Galaxy Gear will be given free to buyers who purchase Galaxy Notes at retail shops in UK. Regardless of the consideration about the sales strategy operated under the promotion for more sales of Galaxy Note, Galaxy Gear is not getting enough buzz from consumers. Pebble has recorded a small success but it is not on a global scale. Sony also has not been very successful so far. The so called smart watches that have been launched so far showed a lot of problems such as limited display and functions, low battery retention, unfashionable design, and high price.
Lastly, the intelligent agent type is the experimental model that is represented by Google glass, which is not commercialized yet. These futuristic design glasses, that try to innovate input and output system, have raised a lot of argument whether it can successfully gain popularity from the general public and change their behaviors. It will take some time to answer to the questions.
Regarding the right approach to this market, there are several ways.
1. Focusing on segmented target
Just focus on the function that you are better at than others. A fitness tracker shows a clear market growth as people’s interests on health and work-out increase. In order to thrive in this market, the performance credibility is one of the most important points. In Amazon review and users’ communities, many people complain about the inaccuracy of their devices by comparing data from smartphone applications. Also, many kinds of smart watches have no specific differentiation from each other, and even many companies try to put basic functions of a smartphone into their products. Who thinks that it is critical to check e-mails and tweets through watches when most people conduct this task on their smartphones? There is no improvement of user behavior or something new to intrigue consumers’ interests. Rather, simplifying the functions can be a more reasonable way to satisfy a specific consumer group. In lieu of sticking to the narrow segment, definitive positioning and increasing accuracy should be considered seriously. It is important to decide which functions should be differentiated and which are needed for parity with competitors.
2. Design differentiation
Recently, there are virtual images of iWatch or other smart watches. It demonstrates how much users are interested in design as well as its performance. Wearable devices should not be computers. Wrist band, watches, and glasses have analog characteristics while smartphones are digital devices. Also, these products are very sensitive to consumer trend in a way that many people wear these items for fashion. This is why wrist band type gadgets are more popular than smart watches. In my opinion, simplicity is best if you think about the current models in the market. E-ink based Pebble is much better than SONY or Samsung’s smart watches, which are hardly differentiated from electronic watches in terms of design. This perspective is still effective in Google glasses that are famous for its concept design.