IDC: Android Wear market share expected to double by 2019

Health trackers have been popular because they focus on a singular feature, which is to track health and fitness.Smart watches have been the more elusive market because a) they are more expensive and b) marketed as fashion accessories makes them subjective.

IDC believes that Android Wear, Google's wearable fork of their mobile operating system, will double in market share by 2019. While Android Wear has been around for over a year in various devices, it has just recently exploded in the number of OEMs that are keen on making hardware to run on Google's OS.

More recently, Android Wear opened itself up to iOS users and newer devices will be able to work as supplementary devices for rival Apple's iPhone devices.IDC said that while Android wearables account for only about 17 percent of the market in 2015, they’ll account for more than 38 percent of the worldwide market by 2019. IDC also noted that watchOS devices (which are the Apple Watch released last July), make up six of 10 wearable devices 'on the street this year,' but is expected to account for less than half by 2019.

“WatchOS, in its first year on the market, will quickly establish itself as the overall leader in the smart wristwear market and maintain its position throughout our forecast,” IDC said in a statement. “[The Apple Watch] will, however, see its market share erode as other platforms — particularly Android Wear — gain greater salience in the market.”

This is an interesting point considering Apple has yet to release actual Apple Watch sales figures since the Apple Watch is such a new product which is still starting to roll out in certain countries and regions. The report also noted that,"Smart wearables only account for about a third of the total market today while basic wearables, led by fitness trackers, account for the rest," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers.

Health trackers have been popular because they focus on a singular feature, which is to track health and fitness.Smart watches have been the more elusive market because a) they are more expensive and b) marketed as fashion accessories makes them subjective. There are also many people who don't wear analog watches, so attracting them to switch to a smart watch is the big hurdle.

To read the entire IDC report click here.