Smart watches: the next big thing?

A real revolution may be happening in the watch market. In fact, technology giants have developed their smart watch which may (will?) create a shadow over the traditional watches.

The future is quite unsure but a new form of competition may have just arisen for this market.

First of all, let’s give a quick definition: “A smartwatch or smart watch is a wearable computing device in the form of a computerized wristwatch. […]Modern devices typically possess enhanced data processing functionality similar to a smartphone or tablet and are able to run mobile apps. Modern smartwatches also include speciality features such as biometric monitoring, GPS and mapping capability, and can even function independently as a smartphone.” (Smart watch news website)

Image source: here

The smart watches are a threat for the traditional ones and concern the early adopters and the so-called Generation Y. Today, everyone is connected as we are the generation 3.0. Indeed, technology embraced a huge place in our everyday lives and progressively replaced some of our way of doing things.

The big 3s (Apple, Google & Samsung) as well as many other companies have developed or are currently developing their smart watch. Today, there exist 45 models in total from which you can already buy some in Amazon.   

Will smart watches replace traditional watches? Some insights from the professionals:

Jerome Bloch (Head of the men’s fashion unit at Parisian style agency Nelly Rodi): “I think this will lead to a changing of the guard”

Jean-Claude Biver (Head of the luxury Swiss brand Hublot –LVMH group): “It would be pretentious to think that this kind of watch would fail to compete with Swiss watches […] But they will in any case clearly not be competing with the high-end Swiss watches, which account for most of the exports"

Jon Cox (Analyst at Kepler): “I suspect that the possible market impact on Swatch Group would be below 5.0 percent of its operational profit"

Nicolas Hayek (Swatch Group CEO): “I am serene in the face of Apple's likely entry into the market and have allowed Apple engineers to visit the company.” (Interview with the Hebdo magazine)

Interested in knowing the top 5 smart watches of 2013? Visit this link

Sources:

http://www.smartwatchnews.org/smartwatch/

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/others/news/swiss-watchmakers-keep-cool-in-wait-for-apples-smart-watch-391924

By Mouna S.