Samsung claims its Galaxy Gear has sold 800,000 units since it launched two months ago, making it the world’s most popular smartwatch.
The company says sales figures are ahead of its expectations and it anticipates increased demand ahead of the Christmas shopping season, despite early reviews panning the device, which has just 90 dedicated applications and acts as an accessory for the Galaxy range of smartphones.
The good sales have encouraged Samsung, which sees the launch of the Galaxy Gear as an opportunity to seize control of the fledgling smartwatch market, establishing a presence ahead of Apple, whose devices Samsung had frequently been accused of copying,
For many manufacturers, the smartwatch represents a new market that can compensate for slowing smartphone sales.
Apple is understood to be working on its own smartwatch, usually referred to as the iWatch, and has recruited Burberry CEO Andrea Ahrendts to head up its retail stores, with her experience of the fashion industry a key reason for her hiring. However it is unclear when the iWatch will debut, with the most recent reports suggesting a late 2014 launch.
The Kickstarter-funded Pebble has also been launched, with the project receiving more than 275,000 pre-orders ahead of its release.
Think wearable tech could be the new black? Try our quiz on for size!
Targetting AWS, Microsoft? British competition regulator soon to announce “behavioural” remedies for cloud sector
Move to Elon Musk rival. Former senior executive at X joins Sam Altman's venture formerly…
Bitcoin price rises towards $100,000, amid investor optimism of friendlier US regulatory landscape under Donald…
Judge Kaplan praises former FTX CTO Gary Wang for his co-operation against Sam Bankman-Fried during…
Explore the future of work with the Silicon In Focus Podcast. Discover how AI is…
Executive hits out at the DoJ's “staggering proposal” to force Google to sell off its…