Tag Archives: grmn

Apple Watch leads make-or-break year for smartwatches

If the Apple Watch is a flop, it could spell doom for all smartwatches, according to CCS Insight. The research firm says that 2015 will be a “make-or-break year” for smartwatches, led by the launch of the Apple Watch in April. CCS Insight projects that Apple (AAPL) will account for a quarter of the wearables market in 2015, selling around 20 million Apple Watches by the end of the year. That is equivalent to about 7% of those who own a compatible iPhone at the time of the product’s launch, CCS Insight said in a press release Tuesday. Smartwatches are expected to be the second-largest category of wearables this year, after fitness bands from companies such as Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin (GRMN). Wearable cameras such as those from Go Pro (GPRO) are a distant third in the wearables market. Sales of wearables will more than double from 29 million units…

Apple dips post-Black Friday with other gadget stocks

Apple (AAPL) stock sank Monday after retail reports indicated a lackluster start to the holiday shopping season overall. U.S. consumers spent 11% less over the four-day Black Friday weekend compared with a year earlier, according to the National Retail Federation. That put a damper on consumer electronics stocks as a group. Apple shares fell 3.3% to 115.07 on Monday. Action camera maker GoPro (GPRO) saw its shares drop 5.7% to 73.50. Outdoor and fitness device maker Garmin (GRMN) watched its stock drop 1.9% to 56.24. Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY) sagged 5.5% to 37.26. Apple stock hit a record high of 119.75 on Nov. 25 in the lead-up to Black Friday. Many big retailers used Apple iPhones, iPads and Beats headphones as promotional items to generate traffic in their stores last weekend. Some analysts remain bullish on Apple. In a report Monday, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich reiterated his buy…

Apple iWatch seen as catalyst for wearable device market

The expected introduction of Apple’s iWatch on Tuesday could act as a catalyst for the wearable device market, investment bank Cowen & Co. said in a report Monday. Cowen predicts the market for wearable technologies could reach $170 billion in 2020, way up from $10 billion this year. Apple (AAPL) is expected to unveil its rumored iWatch smartwatch-fitness band along with its iPhone 6 smartphone lineup at a press event in Cupertino, Calif. Today, the consumer fitness and lifestyle/entertainment markets make up 61% of the wearable device market. By 2020, they will account for 50% of the market, Cowen said in a 126-page report titled “Wearable Technology: A Multi-Disciplinary Analysis.” The current market for wearable devices is made up largely of activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin (GRMN) and others as well as smartwatches from Samsung, Motorola and more. A nascent part of the market is visual headsets such as Google …