Shipment of wearables in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) market is expected to grow 24.1% year on year to reach a total of 2.9 million units this year. In the final quarter of 2016, shipments reached an all-time high of 746 000 units.
This is according to the latest report by International Data Corporation (IDC). The research firm says shipments were up 29.0% year on year in Q4 2016, spurred by new launches from leading vendors and the entrance of new players to the market.
"When looking at 2016 as a whole, wearables shipments for the MEA region were up 52.2% year on year. This was primarily driven by the strong performance of low-cost basic wearables (devices that do not support third-party applications), which grew 67.9% year on year in 2016. The growth for smart wearable devices (devices that do support third-party applications) was not quite as spectacular, with shipments up 20.7% over the same period," reveals the report.
Nakul Dogra, senior research analyst for personal computing systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC MEA, says health and fitness are the main areas currently addressed by wearable tech.
"Health and fitness are areas that smart and basic wearables perform equally well in, as such, users do not receive any incremental benefit in terms of functionality from investing the additional cost required for a smart wearable device. There is therefore a need for wearables to evolve from basic functionalities like counting steps and analysing sleeping patterns, to more complex functionalities that rely on the use of third-party apps.
"Sales of wearables will also increasingly be driven by fashion labels that are partnering with tech brands, a move that will help take wearables to a new audience and broaden the retail of these gadgets beyond traditional electronics stores and into fashion outlets. New product launches are expected in the clothing segment in 2017 and this will inevitably accentuate the focus on fashion within the wearables space."
IDC expects the MEA wearables market to grow 24.1% year on year this year: "The wearables market is continuously evolving. Going forward, we expect the smart watch space to become further segmented, with each brand/product catering to a niche audience (i.e., kids watches, sports watches, luxury watches, fashion watches) and addressing the particular needs of specific users in a more effective way," adds Dogra.
According to Samsung Enterprise Mobility, smartwatches and other wearables will soon move from consumer devices to valuable enterprise tools, and South African CIOs are preparing to manage and secure a wave of new enterprise technologies.
"Wearables may be in the early stages of adoption in SA, but local enterprises are well aware that they will present opportunities for innovation in future, and they want to ensure that they have the appropriate technologies and strategies in place to manage and secure the wearable environment in future," says Paulo Ferreira, director: Enterprise Mobility at Samsung SA.
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