Consumers are getting more interested in wearables

Wearables are still a relatively new thing, and they haven’t had the chance to work themselves up to smartphone and tablet levels of popularity. But it seems that this is starting to pick up, and consumers are becoming more willing to get their wearable on.

Futuresource Consulting performed the research earlier this year and found that consumer interest in wearables has risen quite dramatically. Done in two waves, one in May and one in October, 8,266 people in the USA, UK, France, and Germany were interviewed about their intention to buy both fitness trackers and smartwatches. As it turns out there was a 50% increase in the intention to buy a fitness tracker, and a 125% increase in the intention to buy a smartwatch.

On the other hand, consumer interest in smartglasses and heart rate monitors has apparently stalled. That last one is particularly interesting since most high-end fitness trackers and smartwatches are starting to include heart rate monitors in their hardware. It’s unclear what they defined as a heart rate monitor, and if it means devices that only measure heart rate then it would make sense for interest to be at a standstill.

So why the surge in interest? Well for starters six months is a very long time, and in that time we had a number of big announcements concerning wearables. Samsung’s Gear S, the Apple Watch, the Moto 360, and the LG G Watch R are just a few of the wearables announced (and in some cases released) in the last six months, joining some pretty stellar wearables that have been on sale for a while.

Wearables still have a very long way to go before they reach the same level as the smart devices we already have, but they are off to a good start. The increased popularity is only going to see more people come out and release their own wearable gadgets as well, so be prepared to have plenty of choice in the coming months.