Samsung’s release of the Galaxy Gear back in September certainly set off an avalanche of activity in the wearable device market despite the questions surrounding the device’s success or lack of success on the market. The latest company to get swept up by a desire to develop and sell a smartwatch is ZTE Corp. which has announced plans to produce a device during the first quarter of 2014 with sales to commence during the second quarter. According to an official with ZTE, Lu Qianhao, the head of their handset marketing strategy, ZTE will be producing a low cost smartwatch in an effort to appeal to a broader market. At this point, the focus is primarily on the Chinese market, but Mr. Lu does indicate the company hopes to eventually expand into the U.S. and European markets later in 2014.
No specific details about what kind of hardware or features ZTE plans to make available via a smartwatch, but it does appear they plan to follow Samsung’s lead and produce them so that they will only work with other ZTE devices. Lu says that connection between the devices is at least partially due to a desire to make their smartphones more appealing to consumers. Even with China, ZTE only holds 5% of the market and their share has been falling lately.
In addition to smartwatches, Lu mentions ZTE is also interested in producing smart glasses type devices and possibly “smart shoes” geared toward those with healthcare or fitness related requirements.
The field of manufacturers rushing to get smartwatches on the shelves is certainly getting crowded. However, analysts think the market for the devices will only be about 5 million units in 2014, a tiny fraction of the smartphone market that is expected to exceed 1 billion units. ZTE will certainly have a challenging making the device a success as more producers are expected to join in, especially in the lower cost portion of the market.
source: WSJ
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