Style deemed critical factor for smartwatch success

By PATRICK SEITZ Style will be a critical factor in the success or failure of upcoming smartwatches from the likes of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), LG and Motorola, a new survey shows.

Piper Jaffray on Tuesday released the results of a survey of nearly 100 well-heeled consumers in North America that was conducted over the past month. The respondents were asked for their opinions and preferences regarding watches and wearable devices. The average respondent was 32 years old with an annual household income of $130,000.

Of those surveyed, 75% own a watch. They own an average of 2.4 watches. By contrast, just 18% of respondents said they own a fitness band.

A woman wears a bright-colored Fitbit activity tracker. 

The most important factor when purchasing a watch is style, followed by price, the survey revealed.

Fossil (NASDAQ:FOSL) is the No. 1 preferred watch brand overall, with 13% share, followed by Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS) at 10%. When split by gender, Timex is the No. 1 watch brand for men and Fossil and Michael Kors tied for first with women.

Most watch owners (65%) buy new watches every four years or sooner, Piper Jaffray said. A lot of the purchase behavior is dictated by fashion trends, the investment bank said.

"We believe we have been in a gold/rose gold cycle for the last three years," Piper Jaffray analysts Erinn Murphy and Gene Munster wrote. "As such, we would expect fashion-oriented watch purchases in the coming quarters, particularly given the up-and-coming trends including double leather bands, colored faces and silver/stainless steel tones."

Meanwhile, in the activity tracker market, the No. 1 fitness band maker in the survey was Fitbit with 50% market share. Jawbone was in second with 17% market share, followed by Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) with 11%.

Of those who own a fitness band, 56% state they wear it daily. Among current nonowners, 18% intend to purchase a fitness band within the next year.

When asked whether they would buy a $350 Apple iWatch, 14% of respondents said yes. That's up from 12% in an October survey by Piper Jaffray.

Communication/multimedia alerts ranked as the most important feature when purchasing a smartwatch, slightly edging out fitness tracking, Piper Jaffray said. "To us, the high ranking of fitness tracking indicates that consumers are favorable to smartwatch and fitness band convergence," Murphy and Munster wrote.

Fitness bands, smartwatches and other wearable devices are expected to be a big topic of conversation at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. The two-day Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) conference starts Wednesday. Google is expected to talk about its Android Wear software for wearable devices and Google Fit app for health and fitness tracking.

BigTimeUK.com