According to a study done by ABI Research (2013), “ due to the relative ease of compatibility with smartphones and other electronic devices, the wearable technologies market will spike to 485 million annual device shipments by 2018” (n.p.). As trends rise towards technically advanced products and the demand for wearable tech products increases, even more companies will be entering the market. Also, the number of new entrants into the wearable technology market has been steadily growing since the calculator watch was introduced in the 1980s. The market is open to just about anyone with an idea and money to bring the idea to life. There are a lot of players in the wearable technology market - from small startup companies like Pebble to globally established companies like Nike. The threat of new entrants to the wearable technology industry affects the competitive environment for the existing competitors and influences the ability of existing firms to achieve profitability. To do this, many leading industry players are spending an increasing amount of time in the world’s innovation centers looking for technology partners to power the next generation of products and services, while at the same time staffing up their own innovation efforts to at least keep pace with the industry. While utilizing the six forces to analyze the wearable technology industry, it was imperative to also look at each of the industry’s sub-markets – industrial and military, healthcare and medical, infotainment, and fitness and wellness – and how each of the six forces affect these key areas of business.īoth new startups and well-established, global companies are already preparing for a world where wearable technology will influence how we and others interact with and access our most valuable property. This model is more robust than the standard SWOT analysis, but it does not include factors that are internal to firms. The six forces model is an analysis of market opportunities that is basically an extension of Porter’s five forces analysis.
Rivalry among existing firms (competition).