Ease of use and comfort are key to Apple, Samsung's success with smartwatches and fitness bands

Market research firm JD Power have outed two new reports to do with fitness bands and smartwatches and their satisfaction ratings. According to the results obtained from the same, Apple and Samsung come out right on top and while Apple takes the lead for smartwatches with Samsung in second place, the Korean Electronics giant indeed has two reasons to smile. While Apple enjoyed the top spot (852/1000) for smartwatches, Samsung was not far away (842/1000) but just at second spot. When it came to fitness bands, Samsung took the lead (859/1000) with Garmin (836/1000) coming in at second place. Song, Fitbit and LG came in at third place. [caption id=“attachment_325025” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: JD Power[/caption] Apple should be happy to be on top of JD Power’s smartwatch satisfaction rankings, they should be very much worried about the fact that Samsung managed to come so close (a 10 point difference) and has a wider range of quality products. Apple won points for appearance, styling and ease of use, while Samsung won brownie points for customers service, display size and phone-friendly features. [caption id=“attachment_325027” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: JD Power[/caption] The rankings were based on the measured overall satisfaction from customers (2,696 from smartwatches, 2,949 from fitness bands) who purchased a smartwatch device. This data was recovered over a period of 12 months with each report gauging customers satisfaction across 11 factors. These factors almost similar for both smartwatches and  fitness bands like ease of use; comfort; battery life; phone features; price; strength/durability; display size; styling/appearance; reliability; apps available; and customer service. JD Power had the satisfaction rankings calculated on a 1,000-point scale. [caption id=“attachment_279837” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Samsung’s Gear S2[/caption] “Both the wearable fitness tracking device and smartwatch marketplaces are evolving as more and more brands are offering updated devices with new features and services,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director and telecom, media & technology practice leader at J.D. Power. “However, it is important that device manufacturers focus on offering a product that is reliable at a price that is perceived as good value based on its features. Those that do so early in the game may improve their opportunity to increase satisfaction, customer loyalty and repurchase intention.” The fact that smartwatches have a long way to go in terms of reliability and value is clearly one of the other reasons why many would rather not replace one with a traditional timepiece. While smartwatches have an uphill battle against traditional wrist watches, it is easy to conclude that fitness bands are an area that will be a bigger focus in the years to come. That is until smartwatches really solve the battery life problems along with their reliance on smartphones to get things done. Fitness bands or trackers have a different use case and already have enough reason to exist for the fitness and health conscious consumers.