Picture credit: Fitbit

The latest figures from IDC show Fitbit continues to lead the way in global wearable device sales, but Apple slides alarmingly down the table.

According to the most recent Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker analysis, Fitbit sold 5.3 million units in Q316, up from 4.8m this time last year, while the company’s overall market share has risen to 23.0% from 2.14% in Q315.

This rise can partly be attributed to Apple’s relative demise. With 3.9m units shipped in the third...

(Image Credit: Pebble)

After rumours last week, the acquisition of Pebble's assets by Fitbit has been finalised. We've reached out to Fitbit for more information on how much Pebble ended up being sold for in the end, but it's sure to be less than Citizen's $740...

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The latest research note from analyst firm Gartner argues that wearables need to be more useful and dropout is a ‘serious problem’ for the industry.

The 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study showed that the abandonment rate of smartwatches is 29% and 30% for fitness trackers as people do not find them useful, they get bored of them or they break.

Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner said: “Dropout from device usage is a serious problem for the industry. The...

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A ‘significant’ number of biopharma companies are not actively incorporating wearable technology into their clinical trials, according to a new study from the Life Science Strategy Group, which argues there is a missed opportunity.

The report focuses on adoption of wearable technology in clinical trials and perceived preparedness of contract research organisations (CROs) to include wearable technology into clinical development services. Quantitative research with nearly...

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Mobile AR/VR smartglasses developer and manufacturer Osterhout Design Group (ODG) has closed a $58 million series A funding round with the participation of Shenzhen O-film Tech, Vanfund Urban Investment & Development and several individual investors participated, along with principal outside investor and strategic partner 21st Century Fox.

The money will be used to boost ODG’s production capabilities, complete its new products to be introduced at CES ’17 and expand its...

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Pebble was the original Kickstarter success story and remains today as one of the most-funded campaigns in the crowdfunding platform's history. The device helped to propel wearables forward, and subsequent updates have kept the company's devices sharing the main stage with players such as Apple and Samsung. 

Last year, watch manufacturer Citizen offered to buy Pebble for a whopping...

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Finland-based health technology company Ouraring, which claims to develop the world’s first ‘wellness ring’ alongside corresponding smartphone application ŌURA, has closed a €5 million series A funding round.

ŌURA is used in over 50 countries across the world out of which about two-thirds of the users are in the US alone. Apart from the individual users, many top universities, research organisations, sleep clinics, and companies also utilise rich data provided by...

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An international team of nanomaterials researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Korea University have developed a new, ultrathin, bendable and stretchable film that is both transparent and highly conductive to electricity. This film has potential applications in roll-up touchscreen displays, wearable electronics, flexible solar cells and electronic skin.

The transparent flexible film can be bent repeatedly and stretched to seven times its original length.

Senior...

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French sports wearables startup PIQ has unveiled GAIA, an autonomous system, and PIQ ROBOTTM, a ultra-high performance sensor, which enable athletes to identify their winning factors, highlighting the key strength they should concentrate on to succeed.

GAIA is claimed as being the first artificial intelligence system that can independently read and analyse sports movements. With the help of specific motion-capture algorithms, GAIA is capable of breaking down...

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A new piece of research from enterprise health platform provider Jiff argues that employees are ready for wearable devices in the workplace.

The report, which collates data from 14 large employers spanning almost two years of continuous data collection and almost 250,000 employees, shows that 31% were already offering wearable devices for tracking physical activity to their employees, with the number expected to go up to 54% by 2018. To put this in perspective, more employers surveyed...

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Google is preparing to bring payment support to its stagnating Android Wear platform, according to data mined by Android Police in Play Services 10. In the data, text strings including "Try holding...

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Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and Northwestern University in Illinois, alongside the Eulji University College of Medicine in Korea, have developed a wearable acoustic sensor that can monitor heart health and recognise spoken words.

The sensor is a stretchable device that captures physiological sound signals from the body. It is well matched with human skin and can be mounted on nearly any surface of the body, says Jae-Woong Jeong, CU Boulder assistant...

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Digital security provider Gemalto has announced the launch of contactless EMV cards, alongside other wearable payment options, in the US.

Contactless cards are already available in the US and can be used anywhere via mobile payment options such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Gemalto – which is already a well-established firm dealing in digital security, smart cards and tokens – has delivered more than one billion contactless cards globally during the past five...

Picture credit: LINK AKC

This story is the opposite of ruff justice; a smart dog collar which aims to “secure and strengthen the bond between dog and owner” has been named a wearable technology awards honouree for the CES 2017 event in January.

The LINK AKC smart collar, which is expected to ship in early 2017, features a convex-shaped design that comfortably fits the natural shape of a dog's neck. The collar comes with a smartphone app that allows dog owners to stay fully connected with GPS...

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It’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when” for mass adoption of wearables in the enterprise. Whilst they haven’t been mass adopted by consumers, they have a huge opportunity in the enterprise, and the number of organisations already integrating wearable technology into their networks has nearly doubled since 2014 – increasing from 13% to 24%.

Although smartwatches have similar capabilities to...

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Researchers from Texas A&M University have solved the battery life problem of wearables through utilising the body's natural heat. The first watch to make use of such technology is now even being crowdfunded on Indiegogo. 

An often cited problem with today's wearables is battery life...

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Wearable devices can offer some unique insights about our health and the environmental impacts which affect it. Data from 10 million Fitbit devices has revealed that on average users slept 30 minutes less than on the previous two Tuesday nights. 

During the presidential debates, users slept 4.2 minutes less...

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A three year research report from IDTechEx estimates that the global wearable technology market will be worth over $30 billion in 2016. The report says that the market will grow in three stages: 9% annually to over $40 billion in 2018, but then accelerating to 23% through to over $100 billion by 2023, before slowing to 10% to reach over $150 billion by 2026.

The report details IDTechEx's coverage of the wearable technology ecosystem, which looks at the industry from many different...

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If there’s one thing analyst companies like to do, it’s disagree with each other. Gartner and IDC recently had slightly different paths over the future role of the CIO – and now Canalys is disagreeing with IDC over wearable shipments.

According to a note issued at the end of last week, Canalys argued that Apple shipped 2.8 million smartwatches in the third quarter, making a specific point that shipments compared favourably “despite reports to the...

Picture credit: TomTom

TomTom has partnered with Amsterdam-based advertising agency Pool Worldwide to promote its new Get Going campaign, in order to further strengthen its Sports brand.

The campaign aims to span global markets with television, cinema, print, digital, and out-of-home ad placements.

TomTom has also added three new devices to its North American fitness wearables portfolio, namely TomTom Touch, TomTom Spark 3 and TomTom Adventurer. The TomTom Touch is claimed to be the first fitness tracker in...