Name: Panhaserey Sakada Hong
Business Communication
Professor Mrs. Tan
Date: 4/November/2016
Will Wearable Technology Ever Catch On?
One of the trendiest technologies in the 21st century is wearable technology. With
that said, wearable technologies unexpectedly meet customer’s satisfaction by providing
good fitness tracking accuracy and the latest built-in technologies that could act as your
smartphone on your wrist. People love those wearable devices because it reminds them any
missed notification, and it keeps tracks of their health. Mainly, the customers are people who
are into fitness such as bodybuilders, runners, athletes, etc. However, the real issue is that
those smartwatches or fitness tracking bands invade their users’ privacy, and they are pricey.
Wearable technologies do not have the potential to catch on because they are expensive, too
dependent on smartphone, vulnerable to hackers, and marketers fail to market the most
profitable customers.
First, smartwatches will not set off because it is overpriced, and some people do not
know how to use smartwatches. For example, elders in Cambodia tend to not use electronic
devices as much as the younger Cambodians. It is because they tend to spend more time
playing with their grandchildren, and they would probably not know how to use a smartwatch
anyways due to the poor educational system and the Khmer Rouge regime. In addition,
young adults in Cambodia would not use those convenient watches because those watches are
overpriced. According to the WorldBank database, the Cambodia’s GDP per capita is 1,007
dollars (est. 2013) and the US GDP per capita is 53,042 dollars (est. 2013) (). Since a
smartwatch cost roughly around 150 US dollars, Cambodians are less likely to purchase
because they have other expenses to cover such as electricity bill, food, etc. Some buyers in
the US also said “Smartwatches are overpriced.” According the survey conducted by Kantar
Worldpanel that surveyed 11,000 participants in the US, 41% of the participants think the
wearable technology was not affordable and 29% of the participants thought that they do not
know how to use those smartwatches (Billington). This proves that smartwatches will never
catch on because of its relatively high price and too advanced technology.
Nevertheless, while considering the price, some people may argue that smartwatches
are worth the price. Most smartwatches notify you whenever you receive any texts, calls or
notification. In my personal experience of using a Fitbit Blaze smartwatch, the watch are
convenient because it reminds me if I missed any notification from phones. Additionally, it
helps me with organizing my schedule and texting back with my phone in my pocket. In fact,
the vibration or LED light flashing alerts is disturbing especially when people are spamming
your phone notifications such as receiving spam emails, spams from your Facebook account,
