Lackluster Q4 Capped ‘Disappointing’ 2016 for Wearables, Says Futuresource
Amid poor holiday-quarter sales at Fitbit that sent the company’s shares tumbling Monday to record lows (see 1701300062), Futuresource in a Tuesday blog post said Q4 capped a “disappointing year for wearable device sales” for the category overall. A big…
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market problem is that demand for connected smartwatches is failing “to fill the void” left by slowing growth in fitness trackers, it said. The slowdown is “partly explained by waning appeal of the novelty associated with tracking activity and wearable devices in general,” and indications developed markets are maturing and becoming saturated, it said. Though wearables performed “below expectations” in 2016, “there are still opportunities for growth in the wearables category in emerging and developing markets,” the researcher said.