Forecasts for the wearables market shows strong future growth for connected fitness trackers and smart watch sales. In 2020, unit sales of connected fitness trackers will reach 24.5 million, and sales of smart watches will exceed 20 million.

“The expansion of mobile device platforms to wearable form factors creates many opportunities for developers to build new services and applications,” said Harry Wang, director, health and mobile product research, Parks Associates. “For the smart watch, its location on the body and easy access put it in a great position to act as a remote control for smart home features, a role currently occupied by the smartphone. APIs will play a key role in developing functions for the smart watch such as turning on lights remotely, closing garage doors, adjusting thermostat settings, and many more features.”

Currently, 10 per cent of Spanish broadband households own a smart watch, followed by 8 per cent in the UK, 7 per cent in Germany, and 6 per cent in France, according to Parks Associates’ Connected Consumer in Europe. In the United States, a third of broadband households own a digital health/wellness device, and 10 per cent plan to buy a smart watch by midyear 2016.

The US is the largest market for wearable technology primarily due to increasing demand from consumers for medical application in chronic diseases and diabetes. Additionally, seven out of the 13 major players in the global wearables market are American, including Apple, Google, Pebble, Jawbone, Nike, Qualcomm, and Fitbit. In Europe, Germany’s Adidas and Switzerland’s Garmin are the only companies making a major mark.

Wang will discuss the firm’s mobile platforms and connected health research this week at the Wearable Technology Show in London.