Wearable devices now in East Africa: But where are the takers?

The era of wearable devices in East Africa is here: From Samsung’s Gear 2 and Gear S to Microsoft’s Microsoft Band and finally the Apple Watch.

However, adoption of wearable devices — watches and bands that track heart beat, temperature, steps taken, calories burnt and sleep quality — unlike that of smartphones, has been slow in coming, thanks to old habits and pricing, industry watchers say.

“I doubt the devices will appeal to the downmarket customers because of the pricing. The uptake is quite slow in the region compared with developed regions like Europe,” said Robert Ngeru, Samsung East Africa vice president and chief operating officer.

Samsung became the first handset vendor to offer Gear 2 and Gear S in the East African market last year with Samsung’s first 4G-connected wearable device.

The devices give health alerts and can be synchronised with the phone and other appliances like the television. Gear S allows users to insert a Sim card.

“Adoption rate of wearable devices will be directly correlated to dropping prices, which is likely to happen later on towards 2018. So that is when we expect these devices to go mainstream,” said Barrack Ambiyo, research analyst at IPDS & Handsets.

For example, the Apple Watch — which comes in three models — goes for between $350 and $10,000. Its price in East Africa would rise to between $450 and $10,100, shipping costs and import taxes inclusive, while the Samsung Gear retails at $349.

It is still hard to persuade East Africans that they need a device to monitor their heart beat blood pressure and raise the alarm if need be.

“Users in East African can purchase the Microsoft device online at $199, exclusive of shipping taxes. We have no plans to distribute it in the region. We are still doing our research in the US market,” said Lilian Nganda at communications manager at Nokia East Africa, a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobile.

But experts warn that marketing from afar may not be appealing to the customers.

“Since wearable devices are not everyone’s cup of tea and purchase is based on usefulness, vendors should stick to marketing them through telcos and large retail operations with a countrywide presence. Telcos and large retailers with a focus on commercial sales are already pitching both smartphone and wearable devices to banks, oil & gas and manufacturing,” said Barrack Ambiyo, research analyst and Nabila Popal, research manager at IDC Middle East, Turkey & Africa.

“It is important for vendors to emphasise that wearables can be used with or without your smartphones and it does not have to be a high end smartphone,” the IDC experts added.

“Consumers should move out of thinking that owning a device is owning another phone. Think of it as a tool for observing your health and as an opportunity to manage yourself,” said Ms Nganda.

Experts at IDC said other manufacturers may follow the wave of wearables as they learn from their predecessors.

“We’ve already seen wearables from Pebble and Samsung, as well as the Android Wear platform that will offer options from LG and Motorola and manufacturers like Fossil, HTC, Asus, and Samsung signed,” they said.

Former Apple CEO and Obi mobile co-founder John Sculley said the smartwatches manufacturers have not come up with a strong battery that can serve the purpose of a phone and a monitoring device. To Obi, the smartphone market is still lucrative. 

“The smartphone segment in emerging markets is increasingly opening up to a multi-brand structure, where in market share for big names is diminishing, and there is space for new brands to enter. We have no plans to enter the smart watches or tablet markets,” he said. Mr Sculley was speaking during the launch of new range of Obi Mobile devices in Kenya last week.

The eight new models of smartphones were launched on Tuesday by Obi Mobiles in the Kenyan market at a retail price of between $80 and $200.

The phones will be launched in Tanzania this week but are available for sale across the five member states.