MEA wearable market boom

wEARABLEs_cpAccording to latest IDC the market for wearables has grown up by over 65% with a total shipment of 419,925 units during the first three months of 2016 in the seven major countries it surveyed in the Middle East Africa region.

“The growth of the wearables market provides a rare ray of light amid an overall downturn for personal computing in the region,” says Nakul Dogra, a senior research analyst for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

“This growth has been spurred by a number of factors, including declining average selling prices, new product launches, the entrance of lower-cost wearables, and the introduction of sleeker designs,” he adds.

Basic wearables, which are not capable of running third-party applications, continue to dominate the overall MEA wearables market with 71 per cent unit share, whereas Smart wearables that are capable of running third-party applications constitute 29 per cent.

IDC expects the wearables market will growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.1 per cent in the next five years. And, during the 2016–2020 period, the growth will primarily be driven by increased adoption of Smartwatches and wristbands, as these devices evolve to become more sophisticated than simple health and fitness trackers.

“The growth will be further augmented by the launch of new wearable products in the clothing, eyewear and earwear categories, among others,” says Fouad Rafiq Charakla, a senior research manager for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

“IDC expects vendors to step up their new product launches in the MEA market as share gain becomes the name of the game. We also anticipate new operating systems and versatile pools of applications to emerge in order to support all of these new devices,” he adds.

Comments

Comments