RaduTyrsina
News Team
A fresh report coming from research company Smartwatch Group is estimating that just 6.8 million smartwatches were sold last year. The average price was at around $189, which is down by 16 percent from the selling price of $225 seen in 2013.
The total market volume in 2014 was $1.29 billion, up from $711 million in 2013. Overall unit sales have seen a big 82 percent year over year increase. While these are big numbers, it's something pretty normal for a nascent industry.
Pascal Koenig, managing partner of Smartwatch Group, said the following:
"The early announcement of the Apple Watch in September hurt sales of competitive products, and there was no available product offering from Apple. While offerings in the wellness and sports market from companies like Garmin, Fitbit, Withings and Polar are based on solid use cases, the consumer market has not yet picked up.
So far, the mobile phone companies around Google's operating system Android Wear have not been able to deliver on their promise. As several times in the past, it comes down to Apple to reach a breakthrough in the consumer market."
Smartwatch Group said that 89 companies from 18 countries sold smartwatches in 2014 and estimated that an additional 140 companies are working on new smartwatch devices.
The launch of the Apple Watch is said to have the greatest effect on the market, raising the average selling price of smartwatches to $290 this year. Total market sales have been predicted to reach $8.7 billion in 2015.
Source: AppleInsider