The market for wearable technology is expected to exceed $6 billion by 2016, according to a report from IMS Research, MobiHealthNews reports.
Much of the market centers around health care, medical, fitness and wellness products, according to the report. Such wearable devices transmit vital signs and monitor user performance (Dolan, MobiHealthNews, 8/9)
Wearable device sales are expected to increase from 14 million items this year to between 39 million and 171 million by 2016, according to an IMS senior analyst (Bird, FierceMobileHealthcare, 8/9).
The report states that a $6 billion market "is our most conservative forecast," based on limitations such as:
- Lack of suitable technology;
- Poor user compliance; and
- Failure of wearable devices to achieve greater capabilities than non-wearable technology (MobiHealthNews, 8/9).
Another potential issue with the expansion of wearable medical devices is that information likely will be sent over unsecured networks, which could violate HIPAA, Computerworld reports (Mearian, Computerworld, 8/9).