Grin and wear it: Middle East, Africa wearables market leaps 65%

Dubai - Shipments into countries in region hit 419,925 units in first quarter

The Middle East and Africa wearables market experienced a more than 65 per cent year-on-year growth in shipments in the first quarter of 2016, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
IDC tracks seven major countries across the MEA region, and shipments into these countries totalled 419,925 units in the first quarter.
"The growth of the wearables market provides a rare ray of light amid an overall downturn for personal computing in the region," said Nakul Dogra, 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."
Smart wearables, which are classified as devices capable of running third-party applications, are still finding their feet in the market as many consumers continue to view the devices as too expensive for the features and functions they offer.
As such, most of the growth in this segment of the market stems from the increasing popularity of smart watches.
Basic wearables, which are not capable of running third-party applications, continue to dominate the overall MEA wearables market with a 71 per cent unit share versus 29 per cent for smart wearables.
This dominance can be attributed to the growing popularity of fitness bands, which have been flooding into the market for a while now, proving to be a big hit with consumers.
The future of the MEA wearables market looks bright with IDC forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 20.1 per cent for the 2016-20 period. This growth will primarily be driven by increased adoption of smart watches 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," said Fouad Rafiq Charakla, 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 these new devices."
"These are exciting times for the wearables market, with niche and mass-market introductions set to change the way we interact with technology in our day-to-day lives."
- abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com