Preparing for smartwatch repair business. Retailers and repair centers have a unique opportunity to change the game.

While the smoke from the gunpowder rises on the dusky battlefield, the exhausted opponents meet to negotiate a cease-fire.

But when the guns have silenced and the wounded are being gathered, another threat arises from both camps. In the battle’s turmoil, the troops have been scattered, new coalitions formed, uniforms, ensigns, and armory mixed.

The Swiss army and the Federation forces can no longer be easily distinguished from one another.

The battle is won but not the war.

Read the Battle of Smart Watch Printed Article Here: 

https://wirelessrepairmagazine.com/battle-of-the-smartwatch/

The old giving way to the new

The scenery described above isn’t part of a historic battle but is taking place in present time. There’s a skirmish going on between the traditional watch industry incumbents and the coalition of smartwatches and wearables makers—all fighting for the prime real estate around consumers’ wrists.

When global smartwatch shipments in Q4-2015 passed 8.1 million units, they out- shipped the entire Swiss watch industry with only 7.9 million units. The skirmish took a turn into a full-blown war, but one with no decisive winner. One side carries aspects the other one craves. Fashion, brand, and aesthetics versus connectivity, innovation, and versatility.

New partnerships and coalitions formed, sharing assets in an attempt to reclaim consumers and business. A converging market with traditional watches side-by-side with smart wearables and a new breed of hybrids carrying features from both worlds.

A disturbance in the force

So, what’s the issue? Where are the challenges? A common example of consumer market convergence is the modern cell phone that combines the phone and camera in one. Both these once-separate device categories have a lot in common: technology-driven sales channels, consumer segments, aftermarket and even the customer support. Yet, the case with a traditional watch compared to a smart wearable is somehow different.

You still wear them around your wrists, and they still keep time, but that’s where their commonality ends. A hybrid watch- smartwatch, or even a premium branded smartwatch, would be a mix of opposing expectations: long battery life vs. high performance, fashion vs. function and out-of-box vs. lifetime evolution. 

The of alignment between consumers’ expectations and what’s technically possible. They emerge from both short-term factors such as design, quality, and performance, as well as long-term factors such as usage, social acceptance, and the functional and emotional values retaining current and future users.

Return of the Hybrid 

The emerging partnerships between the traditional watch industry and smart wearables, there’s a new range of products fighting for the shelf space.

Analog watches (mechanical or quartz), smartwatches and hybrid watches with a combination of analog timekeeping and digital notifications.

The hybrid watches, in particular, have been an exercise in co-branding since 2007. That’s when Fossil and Sony Ericsson joined forces to produce the very first analog watch with digital notifications and Bluetooth support. At the time, there was no big market, and the modest volumes were easy to handle, distribute and support.

Today, consumer tastes are evolving, and smartwatch suppliers have been quick to offer their platforms as modules for traditional watches.

End of life for a wearable might happen in two ways.

Either it breaks and ends up in a drawer. Or it doesn’t break and still ends up in a drawer. Wearables have yet to find their long-term value in everyday life.

And while it’s been easy to acquire new wearable customers thus far (recall the early popularity of Apple’s watch), it’s become a challenge for most wearable vendors to retain the existing ones.

Every encounter with the customer is a possibility to engage, keep them enticed and keep them committed.

A different kind of inside

The circuit boards inside a smartwatch or a hybrid watch are not something a clock maker can handle. They may be experts in micromechanics but not in electronic components. With more and more wearable’s becoming waterproof, it’s sometimes not even possible to break these smartwatches open. By buying your smartwatch online, you probably stand a better chance of getting your watch fixed at a wireless repair center, even if the watch carries a traditional watch brand.

 Moving forward....

When talking about the wearable’s lifecycle, remember that we are still in the early days. The number of wearables ending up in a drawer is still significant, but consumer tastes are slowing edging in their favor. When entering the digital convergence with traditional watches, we have a challenge with either disappointed or confused consumers.

This is why retailers and repair centers have a unique opportunity to change the game. Engage with both vendors and consumers to sort out how both sides can  profitably collaborate or provide value.

Stay tuned for the next issue where we will listen to the voices from an uprising industry once specializing in silence. In “Hear The Roar from the Hearable’s”

Published by: Wireless Dealer Magazine

About the Author

Jonas Olsson  born and bred in the telecom industry. Working with Sony introducing Walkman, Music and Apps for phones. For the past 5 year transforming traditional accessories into Smart Wearable’s. While not sharing past, present and future in mind provoking articles. Advisor in Connected Sports, Fashion and Health