We vastly prefer analyst reports that count what’s already happened to those that claim to count what will exist in five years. eWeek reports that the analyst Johnan Svanberg at Berg Insight puts 2012 sales of smart glasses, wearable fitness gear, and glasses at 8.3 million units in 2012, up from 3.1 million the year before:
Berg Insight predicts that wearable technology will shift from being smartphone accessories into becoming proper stand-alone computing devices. Furthermore, closeness to the body and always-aware capabilities will enable them to be more than merely miniaturized smartphones.
Those stand-along devices, Svanberg says, are likely to be wristwear in the near term. He predicts the market will grow with a CAGR of 50.7 percent through 2017, reaching 64 million units in that year.