ABI Research believes in the "strong potential" of the smartwatch-- according to the analyst changing consumer perceptions will lead to smartwatch shipments of over 1.2 million units for 2013 alone.
“The strong potential emergence of smartwatches can be attributed to several reasons,” ABI says. “Contributing factors include the high penetration of smartphones in many world markets, the wide availability and low cost of MEMS sensors, energy efficient connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth 4.0, and a flourishing app ecosystem.”
One can divide wearables in 4 categories-- notification types, voice operational smartwatches, hybrid smart watches and completely independent smartwatches.
Notification type devices include the MetaWatch and Cookoo smartwatches, providing alerts of the incoming call and message variety.