Wearable devices aim to get a grip

Tech-savvy customers attached to new gadgets, Gao Yuan reports.

If you are not sure how quickly technology changes people's lives, look at the cellphone you are using.

Many of us can hardly imagine a life without a handset nowadays, although as recently as 20 years ago, phones could do only one thing - call each other.

Now people simply cannot leave their smartphones for even a half-hour. Technology dependency has fundamentally changed the way people manage their daily lives.

Just as we are getting used to life with smartphones, technology cannot wait to attach more devices to our body - even closer this time. Tech is targeting your wrist - and, in some cases, your eyes as well.

Wearable devices, a new "cool" thing - just as smartphones were a few years back - are eagerly welcoming people to try them on.

Some customers are already "prisoners" of this new technology because once one has a wearable on the body, the device becomes addictive and hard to take off.

According to Canalys, an industry researcher, wearable-band shipments will reach 43.2 million units in 2015, representing a 129 percent year-on-year growth.

China is among the most quickly growing wearable markets in the world.

According to local research company Analysys International, turnover of the Chinese wearable device market is set to hit 2.2 billion yuan ($358 million) this year, up from only 900 million yuan in 2013.

Apple Inc will be the biggest driver behind wearable band shipments in 2015.