Apple Inc’s upcoming smartwatch, the Apple Watch, is expected to dominate the global market this year, despite mounting competition from devices running Google Inc’s Android Wear operating system, Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center project manager Alex Hou (侯鈞元) said yesterday.
Hou said that global smartwatch shipments will reach 13.07 million units this year, up from 4.11 million last year.
Shipments of the Apple Watch, which are scheduled to begin in April, are likely to total 8.5 million units this year, accounting for 65 percent of global smartwatch shipments, Hou said at a media briefing on the top 10 technology trends for the year.
INNOVATIVE
The Apple Watch, unveiled in September last year, has an edge in terms of innovative features, outstanding design and its ability to pair with iPhone 6 models, which have been selling briskly, Hou said.
Other handset makers, including Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, have been in the smartwatch market for several years with products powered by their own operating systems, while Taipei-based Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) last year released its ZenWatch, which uses Google’s Android Wear platform.
However, none of the second-tier players are likely to gain a market share of more than 5 percent this year, given that their current products still lack outstanding features such as the Apple Pay mobile payment service, Hou said.
The smartwatch is Apple’s first major new product since the launch of its iPad in 2010 and the first to be released under the leadership of chief executive Tim Cook.
“DIGITAL TOUCH”
Apple Watch allows wearers to communicate in new ways from their wrists by sending and receiving messages, answering calls to their iPhone and sending something as personal as their own heartbeat with the “Digital Touch” feature.
The company’s new mobile service, Apple Pay, lets iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch users make payments in the US initially, using the near-field communication antenna design.
By comparison, the features on Asustek’s ZenWatch allows users to automatically unlock their phones via wireless connection, mute an incoming call by covering the watch with their hand and take photographs from creative angles with the device’s remote control.
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