The authoritative market research company IDC says smartwatch sales dropped 51.6 percent last quarter from the year previous, although it suggests that the results are distorted by Apple's vast success last year. In 3Q15, when the Apple Watch was generally available for the first time, Apple sold 3.9 million units, IDC said, accounting for 70.2 percent of the market. This … [Read more...]
Smartwatch Sales Plunge, says IDC, and It’s All Apple’s Fault
IDC is out with its latest quarterly numbers for the smartwatch industry, and it shows a whiplash kind of decline. Overall, shipments fell 32 percent in the second quarter of 2016 compared to a year previous, with Apple's sales dropping by 55 percent. Even at "only" 1.6 million watches shipped, Apple remains far and away the market leader, with 47 percent of the market. … [Read more...]
Google Reportedly Readies Android Wear Watches of its Own
The website Android Police is reporting that Google is getting ready to ship a pair of Android Wear smartwatches under its own brand. This bodes ill for the health of Android Wear. The whole point of Android Wear was to create a software platform that OEMs could basically plug into hardware, but only about a half-dozen companies -- all of them pretty big, but at least one of … [Read more...]
New Android Wear Functions Coming Soon
Google is talking officially about an upcoming update to Android Wear, an update that will include several interesting improvements to the UI. Several of the improvements are designed to trim the number of times that using your watch becomes a two-handed operation. You'll soon be able to move your way through screens by flicking your wrist instead of touching the screen. … [Read more...]