Such events will certainly not help
the overall wearables market, which was previously said to be losing steam.
The dispute comes at a sensitive time for
the overall wearables market, with Fitbit having just agreed to acquire struggling smartwatch maker Pebble, reportedly for US$ 40 million.
According to the International Data Corporation,
the overall wearable market will grow 13.4 % by 2022, two fifths of which will be smartwatches.
Not exact matches
Overall, the global
wearables market will grow over 65 % to reach 219.4 million shipments in 2022, up from an estimated 133 million in 2018.
Pebble held its own not just in smartwatches but the
wearables market overall.
Fitbit was the leading firm in the
overall wearables category, with 5.7 million shipments, holding 25.4 percent
market share, according to IDC.
If you consider the shrinking
market share that
wearables currently have in consumer tech
overall, it's not surprising that a number of OEMs have chosen not to develop new models of
wearables in the upcoming year.
In addition to this, the delay of the update, as well as the lack of new products on the
market has caused consumers to lose interest in the
wearables, something that has led to a significant decline in sales
overall.
The lacklustre financial results are blamed on a sluggish
market, with the
overall wearable segment seeing waning interest from consumers.