Apple set to drive smartwatch market after slow start for Android Wear: report

A NEW report is backing Apple to fire up the smartwatch market after figures show little interest in Google Android devices.

Slow start for Google’s smartwatches

WHILE 2014 was the year of the smartwatch for technology pundits when it came to sales the punters were not quite as convinced.

Canalys has released a report that shows just 720,000 Android Wear smartwatches shipped in 2014, which is just a fraction of the 4.6 million smart wearable bands like the Fitbit.

The report shows despite supply problems the Moto 360 was the leader in the Android Wear devices ahead of LG, Asus and Sony.

FACE OFF: the battle of the smartwatches

Samsung has released six devices in just over a year but the Canalys report warns “it has struggled to keep consumers engaged and must work hard to attract developers”.

The report comes out just a few weeks before Mobile World Congress, where a new batch of smartwatches is likely to be unveiled, and the expected Apple release of the Apple Watch.

Like with the MP3 player and smartphone, Apple has been late to market with a smartwatch but hopes history will repeat itself with the success of the iPod and iPhone.

In the report, Canalys analyst Daniell Matte says “Apple made the right decisions with its WatchKit software development kit to maximise battery life for the platform, and the Apple Watch will offer leading energy efficiency”.

The smartwatch market is more than a year old, and Pebble has shipped more than 1 million units, but these latest sales figures shows it’s still very much a niche market.