Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Wearables spur on health consumerization

The wearables market for health and wellness is on the cusp of a significant stride forward, thanks to modern wearable technologies that provide the means to collect and manage health and wellness data in a more convenient and automated fashion. Parks Associates data shows growth in several wearables categories, including digital pedometers and GPS watches.

Wearable devices and their apps offer new means for consumers to manage their health and wellness. Wearables have emerged for fitness tracking, medical condition management, wellness monitoring, and personal safety assistance, among other use cases. New form factors like earbuds, headbands, patches, and smart fabrics enable the collection of new forms of data and push the use case horizon even further.

Parks Associates wearable device research shows U.S. consumers are interested in the benefits that wearable devices provide for health use cases:

  • 29% of U.S. broadband households own one connected health device, and 12% own multiple connected health devices.
  • More than 60% of future smart watch buyers plan to use a smart watch to track fitness.
  • 35% of U.S. smart watch owners are willing to share data from their device for a health insurance discount. 

From the article "Wearables spur on health consumerization" by Jennifer Kent.

Previously In The News

Smartphones driving consumer demand for connected cars to an all-time high

According to new Parks Associates research published ahead of the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), 44% of car owners in US broadband households already have some a connected car fea...

Prediction: Wi-Fi-Cell Hybrid Service Is Coming

As always, timing is everything. Research published in July by Parks Associates suggests U.S. mobile carriers are shifting their focus from ARPU growth to churn management as new smartphone users beco...

Netflix Beware, Hulu Is the Dark Horse That Will Take Over 2016

On the other hand, achieving such a feat may not be as easy it seems. Data published by Parks Associates highlights that during the past 12 months, approximately 50% of Hulu’s subscribers have not opt...

PayPal Leads The Way In US Mobile Payments, But Retailers Not Happy

Mobile payments are still an up-and-coming new capability for consumers; while mobile banking has clearly led the way, there’s still a lot of interest in mobile payments at least in some fields. Wh...