Dive Brief:
- Worldwide shipments of wearables is expected to hit 110 million in 2016, led by smartwatches and other wristbands, though clothing, eyewear, and hearables are expected to add nearly 10 million shipments to the total.
- IDC, which releases quarterly tracking estimates of the wearables industry, reports the next trend to keep an eye on will be “smarter watches” that don’t run apps but track fitness or sleep.
- Apple’s watchOS is expected to dominate sales throughout the IDC forecast period, which ends in 2020, followed by Android Wear.
Dive Insight:
College campuses have had to adapt their networks to handle an increasing number of devices students bring to campus and expect to be able to use. Whereas a few years ago students brought zero wifi-enabled devices to college, they are now bringing sometimes three, four or more.
IT departments have expanded wifi connectivity, adding more connection points to speed up access for students who demand it, but that has created greater IT security issues. The more connection points, the more opportunities a hacker has to break into a system. Comprehensive protection, including strong policies and procedures, monitoring and incident response, is now a necessary element of doing business in higher education.