Despite the hype about the smart watches in the recent months, they are not likely to be on the top of wishlist during the Christmas this year, according to a report from Gartner.
Customers are expected to prefer tablets and fitness bands over smart watches during holiday season as smart watches lack premium pricing along with an unclear value proposition.
According to the report, the smart watches are part of wearable electronics offering services to fitness, health-monitoring, monitoring the elderly and law enforcement segments and in recent days it is emerging as mainstream consumer market with addition of features like communication.
Gartner principal research analyst Annette Zimmermann said Samsung and other well-known vendors have recently entered the smart watch space, yet the products have so far been rather uninspiring in terms of design, available apps and features.
"As a result, Gartner predicts that wearable devices will remain a companion to mobile phones at least through 2017, with less than one percent of premium phone users opting to replace their phone with a combination of a wearable device and a tablet," Zimmermann added.
Currently, smart watch products are available in various technical specifications and capabilities based on the speed of processors, display technology, type of sensors, connectivity and operating systems.
The report said that there are models that can completely replace smartphone as they feature all cellular connectivity technologies, while others perform message display, initiate voice calls and music streaming operations.
"The convenience aspect of using a watch for interaction while leaving the larger-screen phone or tablet in the bag or pocket is something that users can relate to and probably recognise its value."
"However, there are still several significant barriers to mainstream adoption, including low interest and awareness among consumers, poor design and price."
The pricing of smart watches, which is between $200 and $300, is also one of the main reasons for slow offtake as the consumers feel that at the same price they can buy basic tablets with good features.
Gartner research director Angela McIntyre said interoperability and stand-alone apps give the smart watch more value on its own that is when it is not connected to a smartphone.
"Even though smart watches play a ‘supporting role’ to smartphones, designing the smart watch only to act as a secondary device will consign it to failure," McIntyre added.
"Sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscope, infrared, microphones and cameras, will give software developers greater flexibility to create apps for a broad range of usages."
"Bringing smart watches to life will mean vendors must be involved in fostering the developer community. Just as for smartphones and tablets, wearers will naturally expect numerous apps and services."
