Juniper, one of the more clued-in research houses, has just issued its view of the tech world over the next five years, and is opining that the wearables that will succeed short-term will be the pretty ones.
Analysts don’t put it quite like that. They say “invisible wearables,” ones that blend in with what you wear and other non-smart tech, will be widely adopted through the end of the decade. In the $80 Billion wearables market between here and 2020, “fashion-first wearables will have a much greater appeal than tech-centric devices, as they will blend in with consumers’ lives more effectively.”
They hedge their bets, though: there’s a distinct possibility that the tech look itself will become fashionable.
Things like biopatches? They’ll be important, Juniper says, but not so much for the near-term consumer market. Form, they say, over function.
Juniper’s wearables predictions are part of a larger report of the technology landscape in 2020. It’s interesting reading, but you’ll need to register (free) to get it.
