This week Pebble announced the launch of a new face in its smartwatch lineup: The Pebble Time Round. Dubbed as the lightest and thinnest smartwatch will debut in November 2015 and retail beginning at $249.00. The new addition joins a growing number of smartwatches that favour the classier rounded look such as the LG Urbane and G Watch R, Moto360, Withings; with G-Shock, Swatch and even higher end watchmakers like TAG Heuer launching their own versions soon.
Apple AAPL -0.88% bucks this trend with its square design, but it feels like a forced attempt to alter how wearers perceive what it means to own a watch, and to show that a square smartwatch can carry its own chic. Consumers prefer round watches, whether a traditional timepiece or a smart variant. 80% of watch sales on sale are made on round faced timepieces, according to Ruth Faulkner, the editor of Retail Jeweller. This was backed up in another interview with Will Jones for Trusted Reviews. Jones, a Tablets and Computing Buyer with John Lewis, stated that one reason square watches are falling short with consumers, is that.
“People don’t want to look like they’re wearing a computer on their wrist.”
Apple is no stranger to playing with design over the life of a product. Remember the iPod Nano? Here Apple changed the iPod Nano in 2007 during its 3rd iteration making it more like the original iPod Classic with a squared off design before returning to the familiar candy bar shape again. With the Apple Watch I predict the same will happen and Apple will release two styles side by side to grab a larger consumer share against the proliferation of rounded Android watches.
Different iterations of the Apple iPod Nano music player (Click Image To Enlarge)
For many a circular watch feels more familiar, and ultimately more stylish. Remember Tom Ford trying to wear the Apple as a pocketwatch ? It didn’t take off.
There are of course pros and cons for designing a square-faced watch over a round version and vice-versa;
- User experience
- Screen design and manufacturing
- App design and usability
One startup is looking deeply into how users can input text on a smartwatch, something which is not possible in the current generation of smartwatches. Tusi claims to make “messaging on small screens simple and fast” via predictive text and abbreviation functionality but on its website it favours text input via round smartwatches.
Apple will have to release a future version, whether Gen-2 or Gen-3, in both variants due to consumer pressure. When Tim Cook revealed the Apple Watch he said
“The Apple Watch is the most personal device we’ve ever created, it’s not just on you, it’s with you.”
Howevers, Cupertino will need to understand that to win the smartwatch war it can’t just force its design on you, it has to work with you and that may mean finally giving you the choice that should have been there in the first place.
As Pebble say on their website, The Time Round is “the perfect companion for those who like their wearable tech a bit more incognito.”. They say incognito, I say classier.
I’ll take the Apple Watch in round please Tim.
COMMENTARY: At the present time, most smartwatches need to connect with a smartphone or tablet for most of their functionality.
Wearables also suffer from a perception problem. Is it a computer, a watch or jewelry? In most important,c0nsumers still don't understand how a wearable might really benefit them. In a recent report on the wearable computing market from BI Intelligence, we also discuss other barriers to adoption, including price, lack of functionality, and style.
We also look at how how the wearables market will perform in the long run. We forecast out shipments numbers, explain why the smartwatch will be the leading wearable device category going forward, and analyze proprietary results from our BI Intelligence consumer survey on smartwatch purchase intent.
Here are some key points from the report:
- Wearables will see plenty of growth. The estimated global wearables market will grow at a compound annual rate of 35% over the next five years, reaching 148 million units shipped annually in 2019, up from 33 million units shipped this year.
- The smartwatch will be the leading product category and take an increasingly large share of wearable shipments. Estimated smartwatch shipments will rise by a compound annual rate of 41% over the next five years. Smartwatches will account for 59% of total wearable device shipments this year, and that share will expand to just over 70% of shipments by 2019.
- The Apple Watch will kick-start growth in the overall smartwatch market. The Apple Watch will account for 40% of smartwatch shipments in 2015 and reach a peak 48% share in 2017.
- Fitness bands and miscellaneous wearable device types, like smart eyewear, will continue to cater to niche audiences. Fitness bands, because of their appeal to niche audiences interested in health and exercise, will see their share of the wearable device market contract to a 20% share in 2019, down from 36% this year. There will be some blur between fitness bands and smartwatches.
- Now that both Apple and Google are in the smartwatch market, they will dominate, much as they have in the smartphone and tablet markets. Because these platforms make up over 90% of the entire mobile platform market, many mobile users interested in wearable devices will gravitate toward Apple Watches and Android Wear-based devices.
- Barriers still persist, and these will inhibit consumer wearables adoption and usage. Smartwatches in particular must become standalone computing devices with more robust functionality for the devices to become mainstream. Other barriers include small screen size, clunky style, limited battery life, and lack of a "killer app" that can drive adoption.
In full, the BI Intelligence report:
- Forecasts annual shipments of wearable computing devices between 2014 and 2019.
- Breaks down wearable computing device shipments by device category, including smartwatches, fitness bands, and other wearables like Google Glass.
- Reveals and analyzes BI Intelligence smartwatch consumer survey results.
- Discusses barriers to mainstream adoption including style limited functionality, and lack of a killer app ecosystem.
- Looks at the potential for Apple and Google to dominate with Apple Watch and Android Wear.
Courtesy of an article dated September 27, 2015 appearing in Forbes and an article dated May 25, 2015 appearing in Business Insider
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