Despite the hype, nobody wants a smartwatch

The smartwatch may not be the big next step forward in wearable tech that everyone believes it to be. According to a report by Gartner, the premium pricing of smartwatches, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, along with consumers still being unclear whether it is actually useful or not, is leading to low sales figures. Consumers seem to be more likely to get tablets and fitness bands instead of smartwatches.

"Samsung and other well-known vendors have recently entered the smart watch space, yet the products we have seen so far have been rather uninspiring in terms of design, available apps and features," said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner. "As a result, Gartner predicts that wearable devices will remain a companion to mobile phones at least through 2017, with less than one percent of premium phone users opting to replace their phone with a combination of a wearable device and a tablet."

There is currently a wide spectrum of technical specifications and capabilities in current smartwatches, such as the speed of processors, display technology, types of sensors, connectivity options and operating systems. There are some that could potentially replace smartphones entirely, since they include cellular connectivity as well. Others can display notifications like messages, start voice calls and can stream music.

Smartwatches have to be more useful to draw in more consumers

"The convenience aspect of using a watch for interaction while leaving the larger-screen phone or tablet in the bag or pocket is something that users can relate to and probably recognize its value," said Zimmermann. "However, there are still several significant barriers to mainstream adoption, including low interest and awareness among consumers, poor design and price."

Because of the current lack of innovative design in the smartwatch market, most haven’t achieved the mass-market appeal necessary for the success of the technology. Most of the smartwatches out right now have designs some consumers deem unstylish because of how bulky they are. According to Gartner, smartwatch makers have to find a balance between an appealing, slim design and long battery life; both of these aspects will play a significant role in shaping a buyer’s purchasing decisions.

"Users expect more than just more convenience from a new product category that claims to be innovative and priced at $200 to $300," said Zimmermann. "The same price will fund basic tablets with a good feature set. For the coming holiday season users are more likely to pick the basic tablet option rather than a smart watch as the value proposition is clearer."

Smartwatch makers also have to note that the success of the technology won’t be decided simply with hardware prowess. Apps and interoperability between devices will be a major factor for most consumers.

"Interoperability and stand-alone apps give the smart watch more value on its own — that is when it is not connected to a smartphone," said Angela McIntyre, Research Director at Gartner. "Even though smart watches play a 'supporting role' to smartphones, designing the smart watch only to act as a secondary device will consign it to failure. Sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscope, infrared, microphones and cameras, will give software developers greater flexibility to create apps for a broad range of usages."