Apple Watch set to supercharge wearables market

Android Wear must try harder, says Canalys, as it reveals just 720,000 devices running Android's mobile OS were shifted last year

Canalys is looking to the Apple Watch to fuel the smartwatch market this year, following muted sales of Android Wear devices.

According to the analyst, 720,000 devices running the Android Wear operating system shipped last year, which Canalys has indicated may well be below what Google and its partners were hoping for when the first devices came out last summer.

That means Android Wear devices represented just 15.6 per cent of the total 4.6 million smart wearable bands shipped in 2014. Under Canalys' definition, smart wearable bands must be capable of running third-party computing applications.

One problem could be battery life, Canalys principal analyst Chris Jones said in an interview with CNET.

Of the six smartwatches running Android Wear, Motorola's Moto 360 was the "clear leader", Canalys said, despite constrained supply in Q4.

LG's round G Watch R also performed "significantly better" than its original G Watch, the analyst added.

"Samsung has launched six devices in just 14 months, on different platforms and still leads the smartband market. But it has struggled to keep consumers engaged and must work hard to attract developers while it focuses on Tizen for its wearables," Jones said in a press release.

Canalys said all eyes are now on Apple to provide impetus to the market when it launches its hotly anticipated Apple Watch in April.

The device, which will retail in the US for $399 (£259), will "dramatically grow the market for smartbands and wearables overall", Canalys said.

"Apple made the right decisions with its WatchKit software development kit to maximise battery life for the platform, and the Apple Watch will offer leading energy efficiency,' said Canalys analyst Daniel Matte. "Android Wear will need to improve significantly in the future, and we believe it will do so."

Pebble shipped one million units of its smart wearable band between its 2013 launch and the end of 2014, Canalys said.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi shifted more than a million units of its Mi Band in the basic band section of the market that is still led by Fitbit, the analyst said.