The Android Wear series of smart watches, which includes LG's G Watch and G Watch R, is off to a pretty slow start.
Only an estimated 720,000 of the Google-powered wearables shipped in 2014 out of a total of 4.6 million smart wearable bands, according to analyst firm Canalys. Poor battery life that lasts a little more than a day, and a lack of worthwhile apps are among the reasons cited for the poor attachment rate.
Of the smart watches that made the cut, Canalys reported, Motorola's round-faced, classic-looking Moto 360 led the pack while the more modern-looking LG G Watch R followed with Asus and Sony trailing behind with their own Android Wear devices.
All things considered, 720,000 isn’t a terribly bad beginning for a young product among a sea of competitors who aren't faring that much better.
“Samsung has launched six devices in just 14 months, on different platforms and still leads the smart band market,” said Vhris Jones, Canalys VP and principal analyst. “But it has struggled to keep consumers engaged.”
Additionally, Pebble only made its millionth sale late in 2014.
Meanwhile, Fitbit remains the global leader of the basic (as in, non-smart) wearable band market thanks to a successful marketing blitz that targeted baby boomers, females and millennials across various channels including ads before movies, television ads and digital and print ads.
Curious customers who are hesitant about jumping on the wearable smart device bandwagon are likely waiting for a sure bet. The looming Apple Watch from Apple could be the one (or The One, if you want to get messianic Wachowskis-style) to convince us all that wearables are the way of the future.
“Apple made the right decisions with its WatchKit software development kit to maximize battery life for the platform, and the Apple Watch will offer leading energy efficiency,” said Canalys analyst Daniel Matte. “Android Wear will need to improve significantly in the future, and we believe it will do so.”
Even then, smart watch manufacturers have an uphill battle ahead of them to convince consumers of their need. Many prospective buyers already tote around a smartphone that does many of the same basic things smart watches accomplish, without the need to strap an extra gizmo around one’s wrist. We’ll see in April if Apple Watch can turn the tide.
