The coming wave?

While Forrester expects the number of people using a wearable computer to triple in 2015, boosted by the arrival of the Apple Watch – which it expects to have around 10million users – polling data suggests that US consumers are more likely to embrace this technology than their European counterparts. According to polling, conducted for the study, 45% of Americans see themselves using wearables, while only 32% of Europeans said they would be adopting it. The study also found that US consumers were more likely to embrace all manner of wearable devices than their European counterparts whether watches or health monitors, smart jewellery or tattoos! While consumers are expressing an interest in wearable electronics being driven by brands, retailers, healthcare companies and the like, the report found the biggest driver in terms of adoption was businesses looking to use wearable devices to monitor their employees – Big Brother looks to have arrived in the workplace. The report found that more than two-thirds of business decision-makers, some 68%, said that they were developing a 'wearables strategy' for their business and that it was now a priority. Such wearable devices would incorporate video and photo devices to monitor workers in the field, augmenting the work of human inspectors or managers. The report comes at a time when a growing number of financial and market research firms are showing an interest in the space. Recently, in a very bullish report, investment bank Morgan Stanley predicted that the category could top 1billion devices by 2020, with growth forecast to ramp up faster than either smartphones or tablets did in their breakout years.