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Apple is the captain of a sinking ship:
Maybe not everyone is convinced they need a smartwatch? According to a new industry report from IDC out this morning, smartwatch shipments experienced "significant" declines in the third quarter, as total shipments were down 51.6 percent from the same time last year. Just 2.7 million units were shipped in Q3 2016 versus 5.6 million in Q3 2015. While IDC offers several explanations as to why sales are dropping – including issues related to launch timings, Android Wear delays, and more – the numbers still indicate how smartwatches are having a hard time finding traction among a majority of consumers.
Of course, we need to keep in mind that Apple Watch is the market leader among smartwatches – its Series One device accounted for the majority of shipments in the quarter (1.1 million units shipped, a 72 percent year-over-year decline). That means its ups and downs will have an outsize impact on the industry's numbers at large.
Another factor mentioned: potential Apple Watch customers may have been waiting for second generation version.
On the heels of Misfit announcing the Phase, its first hybrid smartwatch, a bunch of other Fossil Group brands want in on that action. Chaps, Diesel, Emporio Armani, and Michael Kors have all added hybrid smartwatches to their connected devices lineup. All of of their smarthwatches use traditional, analog watch displays, but you can track fitness and delivery notifications on them with just a few taps.
Those brands join other Fossil Group-owned brands that have put their spin on smartwatches and fitness trackers. The Fossil brand launched its Q line of wearables last year, which now includes Android Wear watches, discreet fitness trackers, and hybrid smartwatches. Fossil dabbled in wearables years ago, well before modern fitness trackers or the Apple Watch existed. But the company really began its push into that marketplace after acquiring Misfit last year. Since then, not only has Fossil adapted some of Misfit's technology into its wearables, but Misfit has also taken pages out of its parent company's playbook, particularly with the launch of its Phase hybrid smartwatch.
If smartwatches don't have this feature, I'm just not interested.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:19AM
Nah it was a fad, just like tablets. Remember when everybody was talking "tablet this" and "death of the PC, hail tablets" that...
I'm not sure I agree with this, the reason I haven't bought another tablet is because the cheap Samsung one I bought three years ago still works fine. When it dies I will definitely be replacing it however.
You buy a $500 traditional time piece and you can pass it down in 20 years, the software on these things will be obsolete in 2...it just isn't a good buy for the vast majority out there.
This is a very good point. I really like the look of the Samsung Gear S2, but they cost $650 of my local dollars, and there's no way I can justify that.
I went to my local Samsung website just now to check that they were still asking that much and sure enough, (even though they're not selling many by the looks of things).