Wearable Device Market "Mass Extinction" After The Rebirth Of Nirvana

Today, the function of smart bracelet and smart watch makes us stupid. It is not clear that the more functions are added to the smart bracelet, and the data monitoring record is added to it.

Medium.

In the 15 year's CES exhibition, Xiaobian roughly counted more than 60 kinds of smart bracelets.

However, it is not yet clear whether this Cambrian outbreak is good or bad.

At present, only 1/10 of consumers have a fitness bracelet, indicating that although these products are healthy, they haven't really gone mainstream.

What the market really needs is a mass extinction, just like evolutionists often say: a killing machine appears to wash out the mediocre products, leaving behind really competitive equipment.

To achieve this effect, there must be a sophisticated product that shocks the whole industry, just like the asteroids that hit the earth in ancient times, giving the whole industry a chance to rebirth.

Looking for "iPod time"

Few products have the dominant position like iPod.

Turn the clock back 10 years ago.

It was 2004, when iPod was about to be flooded with streets and lanes.

Not only will this product become the most iconic music player in the future, it will also reverse Apple's fate and pform it from a computer company to a global consumer electronics giant.

Not long after, it even took 92% of the world's market share.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs) has boasted to reporters about how iPod and its iconic white headphones attack the city: "in Madison, people in every block are wearing white headphones.

I thought, "Oh, God, we are going to make it."

How did iPod become almost one hand? MP3 player was not invented by apple, it just improved the product.

Compared with predecessors, it uses compact size hard disk to create a more compact appearance, but also can provide more abundant capacity.

In addition, Apple has also improved the interface comprehensively, providing users with unprecedented convenient operation.

After that, apple hoarded all kinds of parts ingeniously, making it difficult for other manufacturers to develop similar devices.

So the myth of iPod was created.

In the golden age, Palm also dominated the PDA market. In a sense, pocket computers, which are specially used for storing contacts and calendars, can be counted as the precursors of smart phones.

Survival of the fittest

stay

No enterprise has taken similar measures in the market.

But there is no denying that there are already some well-designed products on the market: for example, Withings's Activit e Pop is impressed by the delicate appearance of watches and the endurance of 8 months.

But the $150 Activit Pop can only track steps and sleep, which has long been in flood.

The matching Withings Health Mate application also has no bright spots, and it has no difference from the same fitness application.

This is a good device, and its design has attracted a lot of popularity, but it is not the "killing machine" we need.

Similarly, I also like Runtastic Orbit, which has extraordinary capabilities in integrating hardware, software and services, but it seems that it is difficult to obtain the channels needed.

Due to the close combination of Runtastic application, it is trapped in the extreme fragmentation of fitness application market.

From the retail point of view, Fitbit is the leader in the field of fitness bracelet, but the Charge and Surge two models launched by them just keep up with the pace of competition, and there is no substantive breakthrough.

How about Apple Watch? First of all, it is a smart watch, not a fitness bracelet, according to the report of NPD, the American market research.

In terms of consumer interest and penetration rate, it is far behind fitness bracelet.

Such products are more expensive, more difficult to charge, and more frivolous.

Before the launch of iPod, apple began to help users manage digital music through iTunes software, thus accumulating a large number of loyal users.

ITunes users rely heavily on iPod and vice versa, thus forming a virtuous cycle of mutual promotion between software and hardware.

Although many people have a lot of complaints about iTunes, iTunes can indeed kill other music management software 10 years ago.

Apple is expected to achieve similar results with the help of HealthKit and its Health applications.

HealthKit still has many minor problems, and Health application itself is not performing well.

If Apple has first-class fitness software, and can collect a lot of fitness and nutrition data -- the equivalent of iTunes in the fitness field, it will lay a good foundation for the future entry into the fitness Bracelet market.

Of course, I think Apple Watch can get a good performance in the field of smart watches.

I just don't think many people would like to use its fitness function.

People who really want to track fitness data may still buy a special fitness bracelet.

In such a highly fragmented hardware market, who will become the ultimate winner? I think the key is to see which fitness application can grab data through most kinds of devices and make use of these data.

At present, the leading enterprises in the industry include MyFitnessPal, Under Armour's Connected Fitness and Jawbone, and the latter's application no longer supports Up alone.

In fact, if no one can launch products that dominate the market like iPod or Palm, the fitness tracking function may be gradually absorbed by smart phones.

Most people carry mobile phones, and we even regard them as wearable devices. After all, they are almost in our pockets all day.

That must be a pity, because the fitness Bracelet does have its own value.

Because walking is a very subtle movement, therefore, to carry out a comprehensive exercise analysis, monitoring accurate heart rate and sleep condition, it will need a device worn on the wrist.

There must be a device that can explain and define the market, just like iPod for MP3 player and Palm for PDA.

Otherwise, the fitness Bracelet market may be dying forever - eventually it can only become a passer-by in the history of consumer electronics evolution.