Healthcare hope

The tech giants may, however, have one trump card left to play, if they can create an ecosystem to drive a relationship with smartwatches in the same way that iTunes and the App Store made iPhones compelling. That push, experts believe, will centre on health – an area in which cheaper, simpler devices such as the Fitbit have thrived. The smartwatch could become more personal and intimate than a phone, being more of a monitor than a communications device.

“Apple is putting a lot into health, with sensors and what they can do,” said Milanesi. “This is a longer play – not only about the hardware. The company is thinking about the fact that your wearable is always with you, and can do things that your phone can’t.”

“Microsoft shows this well with the Band,” Milanesi added. “It isn’t good-looking and is uncomfortable to wear, but it provides decent data – and that’s where the value is, as well as what the company will be able to do with partners in healthcare.”

Others believe that fashion and tech companies need to work together if the smartwatch is to thrive. “What’s clear is that tech companies can’t do fashion or lifestyle branding, and that watch manufacturers can’t do anything with tech and computers, so it’s really about these two worlds coming together,” said Matte.

He believes that devices such as Tag Heuer’s Connected, which runs Android Wear on an Intel chip, are just as likely to capture the public’s affection as a tech-branded watch. Whether they can do so at a price that the general consumer will find palatable is a question that will only be answered in time.

There’s a feeling that both Apple and Samsung are looking to another form factor as the next cash cow