Everyone is jumping on the smartwatch bandwagon, so it was not a big surprise when we learned HTC had plans to enter the market. Despite working with Microsoft in the past on a wearable device, new details indicate HTC is planning to produce an Android powered device that will include camera hardware. This news came from Chairwoman Cher Wang during a town hall style meeting where she was trying to rally the troops. According to sources, HTC will not have a device ready until the second half of 2014. This will make HTC one of the later entrants into the market, although analysts anticipate wearable devices will blossom into a $19 billion industry by 2018 so there should be plenty of room for HTC to capitalize on the opportunity. Analysts and traders seem to think the move will be a good one for HTC as their stock rose by 6.9 percent on the Taipei market.
We anticipate more details about possible price points, marketing strategies, functions of the device, and hardware specs will continue to slowly reveal themselves over the coming months.
source: Bloomberg
“This will make HTC one of the later entrants into the market”
What kind of fucked up reporting is this? There are really no credible entrants in this party yet. The market is not even established, let alone stabilized. Galaxy Gear is the ONLY large budget entry and it’s probably going to remain a fad in its current setup.