W|W: The Wearable Weekly – Johnny Football

Welcome to The Wearable Weekly, your trusted guide to all things wearable tech. If you only have time to read one thing about wearables this week, this is it. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Wearable Weekly using the form below to make sure it hits your email inbox every week!

Industry Highlights

Apple continued to keep silent on actual Apple Watch sales figures but that didn’t stop analysts from filling in the blanks. This week saw a flood of reports estimating Apple Watch sales, including a report from Strategy Analytics that forecast 4 million units, putting the watch in first place amongst smartwatches with 75% of the marketshare. Business Insider did a fantastic job recapping various analyst estimates for Apple’s past quarter, using this data to surmise Apple sold around 2.47 million smartwatches in Q3. At the same time, Wristly published a customer satisfaction survey that saw 97% of respondents giving the thumbs up on their experience with the device.

It was a big week for VR & NFL teams as the Buccaneers, 49ers, and Patriots all announced use of VR to train team members. The Cowboys (who previously announced the use of VR), 49ers, and Patriots have all selected STRIVR as their VR partner, while the Buccaneers have opted for EON Sports VR.

Google Glass 2 is coming but don’t expect to see it on the faces of celebs this time; it’s strictly for enterprise. 9to5 Google reported on a rumour that the next version of Google Glass, called the EE or Enterprise Edition, will be made exclusively to Glass at Work partners. Rumours also suggest that this next version of the smartglasses will see the device be more durable, foldable and water resistant.

Statistics & Forecasts

Apple estimated to have sold around 2.47 million smartwatches over this past quarter which may sum up to revenue of $1.2 billion (Business Insider)

Apple Watch shipments hit 4 million last quarter giving the device 75% of the smartwatch marketshare according to Strategy Analytics (MobileSyrup)

KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasts Apple Watch sales in 2015 to reach 15 million (Apple Insider)

Apple earns 97% customer satisfaction rating in Wristly survey (MobileSyrup)

Apple Watch sales to jump from 14 million next year to 40 million in 2017, at which point the watch will account for around 9 percent of Apple’s overall revenues, says Piper Jaffray analyst (CNET)

Apple shipped 4.2 million of the devices in 2015’s second quarter according to a recent Canalys report (The Register)

Wearable Technology Market is Expected to be USD 5.8 billion by 2018 at CAGR of 40.8% From 2012 to 2018 says Transparency Market Research (MarketWatch)

Device Announcements

Motorola launched the Hint 2, featuring improved fit and better battery (MobileSyrup)

Swatch has already manufactured 20,000 smartwatch units (CNBC)

Xiaomi & Li Ning Smart shoes to cost around $65, on sale by end of month (Digital Trends)

Pebble Time smartwatch now available at Best Buy stores, Target stores get it August 17 in US (CNET)

Acer’s Liquid Leap+ now available in the US for $99 (Android Central)

Funding, Crowdfunding, and M&A

Edinburgh-based start-up Shot Scope raised £415,000 of investment to launch its world-first wearable performance tracking technology for golfers (Herald)

Facebook’s Oculus acquired Pebbles Interfaces (TechCrunch)

Jewliebots surpassed its $90,000 crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter for its wearables that teach girls to code (Kickstarter)

Vancouver’s Snug Vest gained $500,000 in seed funding (BetaKit)

Major Milestones

Pebble Time updated to bring backlight and vibration controls (MobileSyrup)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers partnered with EON Sports VR to roll-out VR training (ESPN)

49ers also joined the VR movement (NBC Sports)

Patriots next NFL team to join the VR craze (NBC Sports)

Evernote hired former Google Glass executive Chris O’Neill (Re/Code)

Oculus partnered with Felix and Paul for multi-project production deal (MobileSyrup)

Rumours

Nokia expected to make a Virtual Reality announcement next week (MobileSyrup)

Google planning to make Google Glass 2 exclusive to Glass at Work partners (9to5 Google)

Apple Watch support may come in Gold and Rose Gold next year (Cult of Mac)

Apple may introduce a cheaper Gold watch next year (Fortune)

New Google Glass will be more durable, foldable and water resistant (MobileSyrup)

Nokia is hiring within a wearable division (Android Headlines)

Google patent suggests that smartglasses could record your life and index it to be searched later (Quartz)

Subscribe to The Wearable Weekly

Don’t forget to subscribe to The Wearable Weekly using the form below to make sure it hits your email inbox every week!