IFA 2015 | Samsung to make new smartwatch available to competition

BERLIN — Samsung Electronics said on Thursday it would make its next smartwatch technology available to its competitors who also use Google Inc’s mobile platform Android, hoping to increase its share of the market, which is now dominated by Apple Inc.

The watch will be available as of October, it said at an event in Berlin tied to the IFA, Europe’s largest consumer electronics trade show.

Making the new smartwatches compatible with smartphones made by competitors could help sales for Samsung, which saw its market share shrink sharply following the launch of arch rival Apple’s Apple Watch.

Worldwide smartwatch shipments grew to 5 million in the second quarter of this year from 1 million in the same period last year, according to data of research firm Strategy Analytics.

“We are leading the way in this segment,” said Younghee Lee, Samsung’s global marketing head for mobile. “But we realise we can’t do it alone.”

Apple Watch captured a 75 percent global smartwatch market share, followed by Samsung with an 8 percent share.

Samsung launched its new watch on Monday. The Gear S2 comes with mobile payment technology just like Apple’s Watch.

Samsung did not give a price tag for the watch.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple Watch online orders begin

Consumers around the world are able to pre-order the Apple Watch online and go in-store for a demonstration, but will the tech giant change the game for smartwatches, which are seen as nice to have but not essential?

source: interaksyon.com

Wearable devices have bright future — survey

BEIJING — A latest survey showed that wearable devices will become more popular in the Chinese market in the next five years.

For wearable health devices, 39 percent of respondents worldwide plan to buy one by 2020, but 65 percent of Chinese consumers surveyed already have an interest in buying one, according to a survey filed to Xinhua Saturday by Accenture, a consulting and technology services company.

As many as 67 percent of Chinese consumers are likely to buy wearable fitness monitors and 73 percent wants smart watches in the coming five years, more than doubled 32 percent and 27 percent in the United States.

When buying wearable and other smart devices, Chinese consumers place features and functions as the most important factors.

However, user experience is lacking at the current time, as a staggering 83 percent of those surveyed across the globe reported various problems when they use these new types of devices.

In China, the top three issues consumers face are “too complicated to use,” “set-up did not proceed properly” and “not visually or aesthetically appealing”. Only 1 percent of Chinese respondents said they did not experience any challenges at all, the survey said.

The survey was conducted online between October and November 2014, with 24,000 respondents in 24 countries, including China, Australia, Brazil, France, Turkey and the United States.

At present, wearable devices are marketed by a number of companies, including Apple Inc., China’s Xiaomi, and Samsung from South Korea.

source: interaksyon.com