It is no longer a fad. People are making use of wearables like Smart watches for their utility value now than ever before. As more and more apps get introduced, we are going to have many more people wearing them and making optimum use of these gadgets in addition to their smart phones. The market for these gadgets is expected to go up by three times by the end of 2014.

But can they ever totally replace your smart phones?

Though in its infancy at the moment, the wearables segment is poised to take off vertically and it is only a question of how quickly technological developments take place. As soon as more functionality and conveniences are made available on such devices, consumers would prefer to not use their smart phones as frequently as they are doing now and would prefer to keep their hands free. For instance, Smart glasses can make available a lot of information directly to your eyes even as fitness tracking apps can monitor wellness and health. With Apple also about to introduce its iWatch, there is a lot of optimism in the market for wearables.

Figures Are Impressive Even Now

When you consider that over 6 million wearables have already been shipped across the worldin 2013 and 2014 will end up with over 19 million, the market potential can be well estimated. By 2018, this figure is expected to cross the 110 million mark. In contrast, the smart phones sales will cross the 1 billion mark comfortably in 2014 and by 2018 will hit 1.6 billion. The developers working on wearables applications have their job cut out for them and will do everything possible to wean people away from the phones to wearables more often. As of now, the screen display and speed in browsing the internet issues have been worked out. The size of the screen on the watch is small but much bigger on smart glasses. Now it is a matter of developing the right content and once that is done, these wearables can possibly substitute the smart phone.

Carriers And Manufacturers Interested

The positive aspect is that both manufacturers as well as wireless carriers are optimistic and interested about the wearables potential and wish to do what they can for its growth. AT&T took off 50% on its charges when you bought the LG G Watch and the G3 phone as one step towards it.There is no doubt others will follow suit and make it more affordable for users.

Market Constitution For Wearables

Currently, the wearables market has categories in the fitness bands, heads-up and smart watches. The fitness bands are being bought by those wishing to track their physical activities during the day and how many calories they have been able to burn. They are hoping they can use this information to complement what they can use from their smart phone and set goals. Smart watches currently function mainly as notifiers for alerts received on the smart phone. You can also send replies in some gadgets.