Just 720,000 Android Wear smartwatches shipped last year
Wondering how well Android Wear managed in its first months on the market? Merely so-so, if you ask Canalys. The analyst group estimates that 720,000 Google-powered smartwatches shipped in 2014. That's not terrible for a young platform where many devices didn't even hit stores until the fall, but it's a drop in the bucket versus a total of 4.6 million total wearable bands. As Canalys explains to the Wall Street Journal, the current Android Wear crop is too rough around the edges to be a smash hit. The battery life isn't usually that hot (rarely more than a day), and there aren't enough apps to make the wristwear particularly useful.
With that said, some devices fared better than others. Circular watches were definitely in vogue -- Motorola's Moto 360 was the "clear leader" in the Android Wear pack, and LG's G Watch R was more popular than its boxy ancestor. Also, Canalys is quick to add that other smartwatch platforms weren't setting the world on fire last year, either. Pebble's million sales since its debut weren't really better, and Samsung has "struggled to keep consumers engaged" with its abundance of Gear watches. At this point, everyone is still scrambling to create a breakout hit -- Android Wear isn't an exception to that rule.
