Titan’s entry into the smartwatch segment

Abstract

Smart wearables are portable devices fastened to the body of the user to assist the user in various activities be it bringing the functions of the smartphone to a smartwatch or measuring parameters related to health and well-being and help the user in taking appropriate action. The wearable can also be a source of entertainment and information. Among the wearables, smartwatches are the most valuables but in terms of popularity, fitness trackers lead the segment and accounted for more than half of all wearable shipments in 2015. As per market forecast conducted by CCS Insights, the global market for wearables in 2015 was 84 million units. It is expected to grow by 200% to reach 245 million units in 2019. Value wise, the market was worth $12 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $25 billion by 2019 . Smartwatches will account for almost half of this revenue in 2019. In the fitness tracker market, China has already surpassed US in terms of volume sale owing to the popularity of local brands like Xiaomi and Huawei. Among the leading vendors of fitness trackers, Fitbit and MiBand has made significant entry in the Indian market and slowly gaining traction. Smart-glasses are head mounted display devices that very much resembles a pair of eyeglasses. They incorporate mobile computing capabilities and see through displays. Smart-glasses are based on Augmented Reality technology that enables blending of digital content with the physical world. Software giants like Google, Microsoft and Facebook are making breakthrough innovations and investing heavily in this field. The global market for smart-glasses was valued at $89.9 million in 2015 and expected to grow to $6.7 billion at a CAGR of 136.82% during the forecast period. A virtual reality headset gives the wearer the experience of an artificial environment. VR headsets that are integrated with the mobile is changing the dynamics of the market. They are used for training & educational purposes in diverse fields like aviation, military and medical institutes. They are also being used for in the entertainment industry for developing imagined environment for games and interactive media. Leading vendors include Samsung, Oculus Rift, HTC, Microsoft, Google. The global market for VR devices (50% of which are VR headsets) was valued at $272 million in 2015 and expected to become $13 billion by 2019. .