Samsung's recent debut of wearable watches at the Mobile World Congress was evidence the South Korean electronic giant is ready to give the Apple and its rumored iWatch a run for its money.
Gear 2 is equipped with a built-in camera while the Gear 2 Neo is not, but both can wirelessly bond with smartphones and run apps. Running in these smartwatches is a new OS championed by Samsung known as Tizen. The Gear Fit with its curved screen runs basic software and is more of a health device that can compete Fitbit.
The smartwatch is not unique to Samsung. Motorola made an announcement in Barcelona that it plans to release a smartwatch this year and CNET reports that LG Electronics is also working on one. The Taiwan-based HTC is also coming up with three wearables and Sony displayed SmartBand while Huawei Tech revealed TalkBand at the tech convention.
Huawei's Colin Giles, executive vice president, told Bloomberg News that wearables could very well be the future.
Not all agree, however. Samsung's Galaxy Gear was ignored and HIS research shows market share for wearable devices, including smartwatches, to remain below $20 billion until next year.
Timing is important. Apple doesn't always come first but it has shown its forte for coming up with well-designed packages together with effective marketing.
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty estimates that an Apple watch could get more than $17.5 B during its initial year in the market - the same as the iPad during its first year.
