Digital Health Analysts to Present New Wearables Research in Webcast Thursday

Parks Associates, ahead of its upcoming digital health webcast, announced that 2% of U.S. broadband households purchased a smart watch in 2013, with another 4% very likely to purchase a smart watch in the next 12 months.

The research, including a 1Q 2014 survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households, found Samsung as the leading smart watch brand. Among smart watch buyers, 20% purchased directly from the manufacturer, 18% from Amazon, and 17% from Best Buy. Nearly one-half of consumers who acquired a smart watch in 2013 received it as a gift.

"Extending health and fitness tracking functions to wearables is not new, but many large consumer brands want to leverage their consumer influence and developer support to get into a more lucrative business—consumers’ health and behavioral data, which are critical to healthcare providers’ consumer engagement efforts,"said Harry Wang, Director of Health and Mobile Product Research at Parks Associates. “Apple and Samsung have entered this market with the HealthKit and SAMI platforms, respectively, and we expect to see a major announcement about Google Fit at the I/O conference this week.”

Wang and Senior Analyst Jennifer Kent will discuss this new research in a complimentary webcast this week. “Engaging Consumers with Connected Health Technologies” will take place Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m. ET). Registration is available at http://www.parksassociates.com/connected-health-june2014.

“This new market is still wide open. Samsung has established an early lead, but it will face much stronger competition when Apple and Google products hit the market,” Kent said. “Consumer acquisition is only half the battle; consumer retention will be a big struggle in wearables. Not only are wearable manufacturers battling each other for market share, but given consumers’ natural tendencies to slack off their fitness regimens, manufacturers and app developers must also work to keep consumers engaged with their products.”

Parks Associates will host the inaugural Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumersin San Diego, September 4-5, featuring keynotes from Ascension Health, Humana Wellness, Kaiser, Qualcomm Life, and Walgreens.

Media requests for analyst interviews and specific data points should be directed to Holly Sprague at [email protected] or 720-987-6614. Press passes for the Connected Health Summit are available at http://www.parksassociates.com/events/connected-health/media.

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com
 

About Connected Health Summit: Consumer Engagement and Innovation

Connected Health Summit, hosted by international research firm Parks Associates, is an executive conference focused on the impact of connected devices and IoT healthcare solutions on consumers at home. In its tenth year, Connected Health Summit brings senior industry leaders together from all aspects of the consumer experience ecosystems to provide insights on new business models, IoT technologies, consumer behaviors, and deployments relevant to consumer healthcare solutions.

The conference features Parks Associates quarterly consumer readdresses opportunities for new solutions in the care giving and senior markets and the wellness markets. This includes smart home platforms, on-demand services, voice assistants, and wearables, to empower consumers, caregivers, and providers and to meet the growing demand for services in independent living, chronic care management, remote access to care, and wellness and fitness solutions. www.connectedhealthsummit.com

Follow the event on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt.

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