In the last few months, the smartwatch market has been performing quite well. Not only have shipments grown year-on-year – more than 60% in the second quarter – but next year the prediction is that the smartwatch will truly go mainstream.

The rising success of wearables goes beyond numbers. Since its launch in early 2010s, the smartwatch has revolutionized many industries, such as health and fitness, and impacted others, like banking, traveling and news, to mention just a few. Also, many new brands (Montblanc,  Fossil, Michael Kors and Guess) have launched their own smartwatch to attract new and more intimately connected customers.

So it’s safe to say that the smartwatch market has been looking good, and it’s a great time for smartwatch app developers. There was just one thing that was holding it back, though: the leading smartwatch brand, Apple Watch, accounting for almost 50% of market share, was still dependent on the iPhone to deliver some of its features. Was this just a technical aspect? No, for some industries this “dependency” was impacting potential customers’ experience.

This is no longer the case.

Apple has now taken the Apple Watch to a whole new level. It has broken free from the grip of the smartphone and is giving brands the possibility of finally delivering smarter wearable apps; and allowing consumers more opportunities to use them. This is the dawn of a whole new wearables experience, and more companies than ever are turning to smartwatch app developers to boost their digital offerings. And Apple has even managed to knock the prestigious brand Rolex off the top spot and become the world’s biggest watchmaker.

Smartwatch Apps: Leading the Way

With this exciting leap, the wearables market is set to grow faster than ever, because the smartwatch now has more ability to satisfy consumers’ demands. For the first time, people will be connected, receive calls and open apps without having to have an actual phone with them.

Our prediction here at Emozionella is that this heady development will boost the smartwatch revolution. It’s not about delivering on the wrist what users already have on their phone, but satisfying consumers’ evolving needs with new value propositions that leverage the specifics of the wearable device.

For some people, the initial trigger to buy a smartwatch will remain fitness and health.  Over time, however, users will start to explore other apps and realize they can benefit from the same “assistant”-style experience.

More Mobile Than Ever

Apple’s chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, is pinning the company’s hopes on the newly added mobile aspect of Apple Watch, and he aims to attract many more fans. But it's not only the health and fitness-minded he's after; it's also people looking to enhance their mobile lifestyles without being dragged down by a smartphone they have to carry around and might misplace or even lose.

“We believe the addition of cellular connectivity will transform the way people use Apple Watch. Apple Watch Series 3 combined with the power of watchOS 4 is the ultimate device for a healthy life,” he said.

Ultimately, if there was ever a time when your business needed to have a wearable strategy, this is it. It’s time to make the bold and daring move into wearables, before your rivals do.

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