These days, wearable devices seem like a dime a dozen. From smartwatches to smart glasses, fitness trackers and even connected clothes, there are countless wearable technologies to choose from. But how long do consumers really use these connected products? Are consumers in it for the long haul or are they just in until the honeymoon phase ends?

According to a 2014 report, half of those who bought fitness trackers stop using them just after three months because they got tired of having to have to frequently charge the device.

A new white paper (PDF) by SDL plc reveals that little has changed in the past year. SDL’s research identified factors that affect consumer perception of this market, determining that application availability, aesthetics, product cycles and battery life play important factors in buyer adoption.

Managing the hype cycle

Another area SDL looked into is how excited consumers are about a given product. Tapping into social data and utilizing its own social-based scoring system combined with natural language processing and topic segmentation, SDL was able to predict the pre-launch performance of prominent wearable products such as the Apple Watch, Google Glass, Microsoft Band and Samsung Gear S.

The data revealed that excitement is high after the product launch, but subsides the longer consumers have to wait for the product be available in the market. To amp up excitement again, brands could increase promotion of the device and often revealing new features.

Wearables are here to stay, but need developers

According to SDL, “There is no doubt that wearables are here to stay, in many shapes and forms,” but consumer preference should be taken into consideration. “Some consumers want an affordable device with strong fitness-tracking functionality, and may not desire a stylish, customizable design. Others may only want standalone wearables with comprehensive app availability and the need for it to independently function from a phone.”

Wearable devices may be here to stay especially now that we have big brands such as Apple, Samsung, Fossil, TAG Heuer making their mark on this space, but the problem is, developers aren’t that interested.

According to Visionmobile Ltd.’s Q2 2015 Developer Economics report, only 21 percent of developers working on the Internet of Things (IoT) sector is developing apps for wearables. The data was gathered from 3,150+ IoT developers from 140+ countries, including 670+ wearables developers. The report revealed that the low interest is due to developers’ concern that consumers are just not interested in wearables. The report stated that despite the hype generated by the big brands regarding the wearable devices, mass adoption is still from from happening, thus majority of developers are taking a wait-and-see approach.

If developers aren’t seeing wearables as the next big thing in the mobile space, no matter what these big brands bring to market, a lack of apps and innovation will halt the potential ecosystem for wearables.

Image source: Photo by Janitors