The smartwatch market is still in its infancy.  While today's users are predominantly lead adopters, SA believes that to drive smartwatches into mass-market adoption manufacturers must go beyond current use cases and produce a device which delivers tangible benefits that are clearly differentiated from a smartphone. Based on in-depth shadowing of ten existing smartwatch owners, this report identifies three areas of opportunity for developers of smartwatch experiences: Convenience (for those situations where delivering information to a wearable is more compelling than to a smartphone screen), Control (using the watch separately from the smartphone to control functionality) and Coaching (nudging the user based on the fact that the watch is worn against the skin). Especially in this final area, the potential exists for next generation smartwatches to support a more valuable and holistic set of experiences for the user.

1.       Executive Summary  4

2.       Introduction and Methodology  5

3.       Smartwatch Purchase Motivations  6

3.1     Online Reviews and Brand Trust Influence Smartwatch Adoption  6

3.2     Expectations of Early Adopters  6

4.       Smartwatch Use Cases  7

4.1     Notifications  7

4.2     Fitness Tracking  9

4.2.1       Opportunities to Improve the Fitness Tracking Experience on Smartwatches  12

4.3     Controlling Smartphone Features  13

4.3.1       Opportunities to Improve the Control Functionality on Smartwatches  13

4.4     Alarms and Timers  14

5.       Common Smartwatch Painpoints  15

5.1     Inappropriate Interaction and UI Design for the Smartwatch Form-Factor 15

5.2     Inadvertent Alerts  19

5.3     Smartwatch Power Management 21

6.       Conclusion  23

7.       Appendix: Participant Details  24

8.       Contact the author of this report: 25