[LINK] "Still don't own a smartwatch? You're not alone"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC News' Matthew Braga reports on the slow uptake of smartwatch technology. What is the point of owning one, coming to think of it?

This time last year, tech companies were busy hyping what they hoped to be the next big thing in consumer tech.

Apple had just unveiled the Apple Watch. Samsung was promoting the Gear S2. LG, Lenovo and Huawei, amongst others, had partnered with Google to launch new smartwatches of their own, powered by software called Android Wear.

But today, it's clear that smartwatches haven't caught on with consumers quite as fast as tech companies had hoped.

So far, "there's not a great use case for a smartwatch," said Jitesh Ubrani, a senior research analyst with market intelligence firm IDC, who studies mobile technology. "A lot of what these devices can do, they're essentially just mimicking the phone."

The challenges have taken a toll on some of the competitors. Pebble, an early entrant to the smartwatch game, announced this week the sale of its software assets to the fitness tech company Fitbit, which has been working on a smartwatch of its own. Pebble said the company would be dissolved.