From DailyTech: Launched last year, Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s (KRX:005935) (KRX:005930) Galaxy Gear saw a high price ($299 USD) and mixed reviews. Sales were okay, but not great, and many questioned whether smartwatches were truly "the next big thing" as some had suggested.
Samsung, which has been making smartwatches ever since it released a phone-equipped watch back in 1999, still believes in the form factor and has said it will release a second-generation Gear alongside the Galaxy S5 in April.
With that device expected to be unveiled late this month at the 2014 Mobile World Convention (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, Samsung has begun cut the prices on its previous generation model to reduce stock.
The watch launched in late Sept. 2013, priced at $299 USD, but was marked up as high as ~$355 USD in some regions (e.g. India where the price was RS22,290). Last month, Samsung cut the price to around $305 USD in some regions (e.g. RS18,290 in India) and as little as $270 USD in the U.S.
Now it's finalized yet another cut, which reduces the price to ~$245 USD in the pricier regions (e.g. RS15,290 in India). In the U.S. a price cut has not been announced, but in coming weeks the price of the half-year-old device is expected to dip to around $210-220 USD.
The wearables market is growing, if not in the leaps and bounds some expected.
Last year, Qualcomm, Inc.'s (QCOM) $299 USD Mirasol display-equipped Toq smartwatch and the $199 USD SmartWatch 2 from Sony Corp. (TYO:6758) battled with the Gear for market dominance. None of the products sold in large numbers, but the Gear was the most successful, possibly cracking the million unit mark in late Dec. 2013 (Samsung noted 800k had been sold by mid-November). The Gear also reportedly had a high return rate, so take that figure with a grain of salt.
Rumors are still circulating that 2014 will bring an Apple, Inc. (AAPL) "iWatch", a Google Inc. (GOOG) Nexus watch (manufactured by a third party partner), and a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Surface smartwatch. Don't count on any of these devices, however, as we heard those same rumors in 2013 with nary a product from the mobile platform market's big three.
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