Report shows wearable technology isn’t “burning up the app store[s]” yet.
GigaOM reported on the study from app analytics firm App Annie, which found that printer apps from companies including HP and Epson are “downloaded more often” than smartwatch or wearable technology applications, such as those used for exercise tracking.
The report looks at applications that “connect to separate hardware”, with the findings showing that “wearable technology and the internet of things aren’t burning up the app store charts just yet”. So-called “connected apps” require external hardware to work, with 30 studied by App Annie on both Apple and Google’s application stores in August.
App Annie notes that “although wearable technology has received a lot of attention recently” thanks to Apple’s foray into the smartwatch market with the iWatch, downloads for required companion apps “are still low”. First and second were Google’s streaming TV service Chromecast and exercise app Fitbit, but HP’s ePrint and AIO Printer Remote apps came fourth and 10th, whilst Kodak’s Kiosk Connect application came fifth,
The results, App Annie stated, seem to suggest “a lot more people have cable set-top boxes and printers than pieces of wearable technology”, with other TV apps including DIRECTV, AT&T U-verse and DISH Anywhere occupying third, eighth and ninth in the list, as well as implying that “people like to download apps” for printers or TVs “even though those apps aren’t required”.