Text by Masakazu Honda
Masakazu Honda is a journalist who is well-known in the field of technology. Honda talks about wearable devices. In this seventh installment, he focuses on the market size of smartwatches, particularly the Apple Watch.
The rise of wearable devices
Even though I'm a tech journalist, I've ended up switching between different watches before I realized it - this one for casual wear, this one for active wear, this one for formal wear. Before the Apple Watch came out and Fossil acquired the wearable device manufacturer Misfit, I hadn't bought a single watch in 10 years, so I can't believe I've ended up owning so many watches.
This is because I myself have always believed that wristwatches are unnecessary.
If you look back at the news from the 2000s, when mobile phones were becoming more and more popular and sophisticated, you'll find a ton of stories about young people no longer wearing wristwatches... If you focus on the aspect of "telling time," it seemed obvious that wristwatches were unnecessary.
I thought the watch market would disappear, but now I have more than 10 watches of various types. The reason why I ended up like this is because the popularity of wearable devices has made me reevaluate the watch as an item.
While trying out early wearable devices and smartwatches that were far removed from fashion, I honestly thought, "I don't want to wear this in public," which is what led me to own multiple types of watches.
"When I go out in public, I want to wear a watch that matches my outfit, the occasion, and my own personal style and style."
That's it. There was absolutely no motivation for it to be "functional." This is because, and I'm repeating myself, portable devices with the function of telling time were already widespread. In other words, the wristwatch as a practical tool was sentenced to death when carrying a mobile phone became commonplace.
However, when we look at the global watch market, the market for luxury watches and watches from fashion-based brands remains solid. The companies that have been most affected by the emergence of smartwatches are not luxury watch manufacturers or brands that emphasize fashion, but companies that offer watches as practical items.
