A new consumer survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) asked about attitudes and expectations for wearable technology. One interesting finding was that 80% of those surveyed are interested in wearables if they can help deliver “healthy living and medical care access.” This seems to agree with the growing number of reports that indicate consumers want to reap the individual and collective benefits of wearable Health Tech devices, and the ways that the accumulated data can be analyzed to identify healthy lifestyle changes and early detection and diagnosis of medical conditions. This continues to be tempered by concerns about data breaches (86%) and loss of personal privacy (82%).
Related finding in the PwC report are intriguing. For example, more than half of those surveyed (56%) felt that the average life expectancy will increase by 10 years as a result of wearable technology. Nearly half (46%) believe that obesity rates will decrease. On the possible downside, 57% felt that wearables will lead individuals to rely more on their devices for support than on friends and family. And nearly two thirds (63%) fear that work and personal life will become inseparable.
One other interesting part of the report covers the adoption rate of wearable technology devices. In 2012, the penetration rate for tablets was at 20% for the U.S. market. Two years later, it has doubled to 40%. And as of this year, wearable technology devices are owned by 21% of the U.S. consumers; if it follows a similar trajectory, the market penetration could double over the next two years. Personally, I expect that the wearable technology market will grow even faster than that, especially for the Health Tech products.
