Abstract Wearables Were Supposed to Be the Next Booming Business, But
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Abstract Wearables were supposed to be the next booming business, but to date the hype around wearables is not yet reflected by consumers’ adoption of wearables and the attrition level (discontinued use) is high. Basically, the market has trouble reaching mainstream. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how to improve the diffusion, in personal use, of wrist- worn wearables in the Netherlands. 20 semi-structured interviews with wearable users in the Netherlands, from half 2016, are used to find out their experiences. The research of this thesis was not a linear phase-to-phase process, but rather a process of moving back and forth between the different phases of the analysis. A thematic and sentiment analysis is used to analyse these interviews. In the first chapter diffusion literature and context related literature can be found which are tailored to the outcomes of the interviews. Secondly, a chapter regarding a market research, of the time of research, with paragraphs such as features of the wearables, usage rate, privacy issues and promotion from developers can be found. Also the developments in the meantime, from starting point half 2016, are displayed. After this the results of the analysis of the semi-structured interviews can be found. This contains a paragraph with the results of the sentiment analysis (and additional information) and a paragraph with a thematic analysis, which displays the different themes found within and between questions from the semi-structured interviews. The discussion contains the results of preceding chapters. Ending the report with a conclusion regarding what could be improved in the wearables at the time of research, a view on the developments in the meantime and the future. The results of this report show producers of wearables should, regarding the time of this research, add more relevance, reliability, ease-of-use, addressing privacy issues and foster habit (using it all and every day) in order to make wearables a success. Meanwhile, since the time of this research there have been some developments in the market: the market growth faltered, but the wearable developers added different factors to their business which looks promising, to a certain extent at least (and differs per brand). They added more relevance and to some extent ease-of-use, fostering habit and reliability. But, there is still room left for improvement within these subjects to make it a success and reach mainstream, especially regarding privacy with the increasing privacy breaches (even though a new European privacy law has entered force). University of Twente Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences Dr.Ir. A.A.M. Ton Spil Master Thesis The diffusion of wrist-worn wearables in the Netherlands Supervisors: 1st supervisor: Dr. Ir. I.A.A.M. Ton Spil 2nd supervisor: Dr. Björn Kijl University of Twente Master Business Administration 2nd Quartile 2018/2019 Student: Vincent Romijnders (s1714929) 2 Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 1 Method ................................................................................................................................................. 6 1.1 Research question ..........................................................................................................................6 1.2 To answer this question we need to fulfil the following points: ....................................................6 1.3 Aim of this research:.......................................................................................................................6 1.4 Research methods and analysis .....................................................................................................6 1.5 Searching and themes ....................................................................................................................9 1.6 USE-IT model ............................................................................................................................... 11 1.7 Literature ..................................................................................................................................... 12 1.7.1 Relevance ............................................................................................................................. 14 1.7.2 Reliability (requirements) ..................................................................................................... 14 1.7.3 Ease-of-use ........................................................................................................................... 14 1.7.4 Privacy ................................................................................................................................. 15 1.7.5 Habit ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Sub conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 17 2 Market ................................................................................................................................................ 17 2.1 Current state ............................................................................................................................... 17 2.1.1 Introduction wearables ........................................................................................................ 17 2.1.2 Options (relevance and ease-of use) .................................................................................... 19 2.1.3 Usage rate............................................................................................................................. 20 2.1.4 Market .................................................................................................................................. 20 2.1.5. Promotion from developers ................................................................................................ 21 2.1.6. Privacy ................................................................................................................................. 22 2.2 Developments ............................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.1 Relevance ............................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.2 Reliability .............................................................................................................................. 23 2.2.3 Ease of use ............................................................................................................................ 23 2.2.4 Privacy .................................................................................................................................. 23 2.2.5 Market .................................................................................................................................. 24 Sub conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 25 3 Results ................................................................................................................................................ 25 3.1 Sentiment analysis ....................................................................................................................... 25 3.1.1 Context ................................................................................................................................. 26 3.1.2 Relevance ............................................................................................................................. 29 3.1.3 Reliabliity .............................................................................................................................. 30 3 3.1.4 Ease-of-use ........................................................................................................................... 31 3.1.5 Privacy .................................................................................................................................. 33 3.2 Thematic analysis ........................................................................................................................ 35 Sub conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 37 4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................................... 38 4.1 Context ........................................................................................................................................ 38 4.2 Relevance .................................................................................................................................... 39 4.3 Reliability ..................................................................................................................................... 40 4.4 Ease-of-use .................................................................................................................................. 41 4.5 Privacy ......................................................................................................................................... 43 4.6 Habit