While there was no shortage of new smartwatches introduced in 2013, the wearable devices are far from becoming mainstream. This could all change next year as analysts expect smartwatch sales to increase by a whopping 500% in 2014. As it stands, the smartwatches that are currently available are clunky and all pretty much offer the same features as the next. However, with companies like LG, Nokia, Apple, and Google soon to be entering the market, we can expect some interesting wearable devices next year.
The year of 2013 wasn’t exactly the year of the smartwatch, although we did see some valiant efforts from Samsung in the Galaxy Gear, but come 2014 that might be an entirely different story. According to the IDC and their strategy analysts, they believe that 2014 could be the year of the smartwatch in which we can expect that smartwatch sales to grow by a whopping 500%! The report states, “According to our Wearable Device Ecosystems (WDE) service, global smartwatch sales will grow almost +500% in 2014. We expect technology heavyweights — such as Samsung, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Google — to expand the market significantly in coming years. The United States, Western Europe, China and developed Asia will be the leading territories to target for volume and value.”