For wearable health and fitness devices, the future looks bright, at least according to a new survey. Research firm ABI Research finds that wearable connected device revenues will surge to more than $6 billion in five years.
Released this week, the survey, which tracked a range of mobile devices, found that heart rate monitors are the global shipment leader today, followed by home monitoring devices. However, the survey predicts that by 2017, fitness trackers will claim the number one spot.
"Fitness activity trackers are quickly gaining popularity in the market," said ABI senior analyst Adarsh Krishnan in a press release. "Different from other more single-use or event-centric devices, activity trackers monitor multiple characteristics of the human body including movement, calories burned, body temperature, and sleep tracking."
Home monitoring devices, which primarily target the growing elderly care market, also expect to see strong growth over the next five years. In the report, ABI also predicted a crossover between personal emergency response devices and activity trackers, a trend already predicted by tech website Mobihealthnews.
