Good news for Apple’s iWatch: Wearable technology poised for ‘hockey stick’ growth in Canada, report says
June 9, 2014 Leave a comment
Good news for Apple’s iWatch: Wearable technology poised for ‘hockey stick’ growth in Canada, report says
Armina Ligaya | June 2, 2014 | Last Updated: Jun 2 10:32 AM ET
The Canadian market for wearable technology — whether that’s an Internet-enabled watch connected to your smartphone or a fitness-tracking wristband — is expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in five years, according to a new report from IDC Canada.
It’s still in its infancy now, but will see “hockey stick” growth — up 64% over the next five years — as tablets and smartphones enter a mature phase, the research firm said Monday.
“Wearables represent a young but exciting category in Canada — one expected to be valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few short years as we begin to reimagine everything we put on ourselves,” said Krista Napier, manager of mobility at IDC Canada, in a statement.
This comes ahead of Apple Inc.’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, where some industry watchers say the company may unveil the long-awaited iWatch.
This wearable technology could generate US$10-billion in revenue and US$3 in earnings per share for Apple, RBC Capital Markets said in a new report on Monday.
“We think this represents a material opportunity for Apple to leverage its ecosystem and to further deepen iOS usage among its customer base,” analysts Amit Daryanani and Mark Sue said in a research note.
However, RBC Capital Markets analysts said they expect that an iWatch will be released in October or November this year. The Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant hasn’t unveiled any new hardware at WWDC in recent years.
Still, there is much speculation that Apple may rollout a new app codenamed Healthbook, which would help track health and fitness metrics including blood pressure, heart rate, and calories burned. This software, if unveiled, would mark a step toward wearables.
Canadians are interested in wearables, but the technology hasn’t hit the mainstream yet, IDC says.
In a recent IDC survey, 18% of Canadians said they were interested in wearables to track their health and performance during exercising, while 10% were interested in digital glasses.
“While these results are encouraging, it demonstrates the need for these devices to show clear purpose,” IDC said in a statement.
“Canadians must see them as more than novel devices that lose their luster after a few weeks or months, and they must be viewed as doing more than what their phones or MP3 players can already do ‘good enough’.”
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