HAMPSHIRE, UK – A surge in demand is expected in the emerging smart wireless accessory sector, a tech research firm said today.

A new report from Juniper Research found that shipments of app-enabled smart wireless accessories will approach 150 million by the end of 2018, compared to over 15 million this year. At that time the market will be dominated by consumer electronics and fitness accessories, although in the longer run healthcare smart wireless accessories are expected to gain most traction.

The report, "Smart Wireless Accessories: CE, Fitness, Health, Payments & Enterprise 2013-2018," notes significant growth expected across a wide breadth of applications, comprising areas as diverse as video eyewear, baby monitoring, home security and monitoring, and TV transmission equipment.

Author Nitin Bhas said user adoption up of CE smart wireless accessories will hinge on the development of accessories that capture consumers' imaginations. "Nevertheless," he added, "the multiplicity of potential use cases means that the consumer electronics category represents one of the most important areas in which smart wireless accessories will develop.”

The app-enabled smart wearables market, a particularly hot niche within the wireless accessories sector, has already seen significant numbers of deployments particularly in the health and fitness area, the firm said.

The report forecasts an increased adoption of other wearables such as smart watches and to an extent smart glasses towards the latter part of the forecast period, owing to recent developments within the wearable segment. The market entry of players such as Apple and Google will further drive adoption of premium wearable devices, and at the same time publicizing and educating consumers. The Fitness and Healthcare sector together will account for over 50% of the devices shipped throughout the forecast period.

A free white paper titles Accessorise Your Mobile Life is available for download from Juniper's website.