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Although the demand for smartwatches is on the increase, the devices will not be top of Christmas lists for 2013, according to Gartner.
Instead the trend will be fitness bands and tablets, the analyst claimed, leading to "lacklustre" sales of watches this season.
Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner, said: "Samsung and other well-known vendors have recently entered the smartwatch space, yet the products we have seen so far have been rather uninspiring in terms of design, available apps and features.
"As a result, Gartner predicts that wearable devices will remain a companion to mobile phones at least through 2017, with less than one per cent of premium phone users opting to replace their phone with a combination of a wearable device and a tablet."
And despite technological advances in smartphone technology, the devices have yet to set consumer's desires alight, Gartner said.
Zimmermann added: "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 recognise its value.
"However, there are still several significant barriers to mainstream adoption, including low interest and awareness among consumers, poor design, and price."
She said the devices were still considered unstylish due to their bulky design and that vendors need to find a balance between an appealing design and a long battery life.
"Users expect more than just more convenience from a new product category that claims to be innovative and priced at $200 (£124) to $300," she added. "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 smartwatch as the value proposition is clearer."
via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF7_H7B--inwL2hl7PxeihldzalNg&url=http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2308382/gartner-smartwatches-set-for-lacklustre-christmas
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