Fitness Tracker Market ‘To Hit $5bn By 2019’

The global revenues for smartphone-connected fitness tracking devices and equipment will explode over the next few years, new research has claimed.

A report from research firm Parks Associates estimates that the fitness tracker market will grow from $2bn in 2014 to $5.4bn by 2019 as more and more manufacturers enter what is becoming an increasingly lucrative market.

This follows the release of several high-profile devices in recent months, including Microsoft’s Band wearable (pictured below).

Healthy

“Our latest data finds adoption of connected health devices increased from 24 percent of US broadband households at the beginning of 2013 to nearly 30 percent by the end of 2014,” said Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Parks Associates. “The most popular devices are exercise equipment with built-in app support and digital pedometers with wireless connectivity.”

The report seems to agree with earlier findings by analyst firm Juniper Research which estimated that the number of fitness items on the market is set to treble over the next four years, spurred on by the release of several high-profile devices.

Juniper highlighted Fitbit as the brand most likely to emerge as the leading player it the fitness tracking market, although the company’s decision not to integrate with Apple Health may harm their market share in the short term.

“Health is an important part of the connected home, but the market is different from other CE and smart home markets, due in large part to consumer motivations for adoption,” Wang added.

“For instance, age is not a consistent predictor of health tech adoption as it is for other tech markets, and different consumer segments have varying motivations for adopting health solutions. Companies in the connected health space must be mindful of their target market when designing their solutions and marketing messages.”

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