Americans, Chinese More Open to Smart Watch Security Than Europeans, Survey Finds
Consumers in China, Germany, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. see the "potential" in using smart watches to carry plane tickets or as security keys for their computers and online accounts, a GfK survey found (http://bit.ly/1xPrPuq). The research firm…
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canvassed 1,000 smartphone owners in each market to gauge their interest in being able to carry out specific functions with a smart watch, assuming they could save and send their data securely, it said. It found that among Americans and Chinese, there’s "openness" for using smart watches as identity cards and for payment systems, but Europeans "are much more hesitant about these functions," it said. The survey found that smart watches "have the potential for a wide range of uses," it said. "Gathering sports activities, navigation, phone calls and apps are the main applications that surveyed consumers are interested in at present." But "due to the nature" of a smart watch being worn on the wrist, "it could also serve as proof of identity, a travel ticket holder or a method of making payments at the checkout," the firm said. Nearly half of those surveyed in the five countries said they would be interested in using a smart watch to provide doctors or hospitals with personal healthcare data, it said. "However, people in different countries differ widely in how far they are ready to entrust sensitive health information" to a smart watch, it said. Nearly seven in every 10 Chinese canvassed said they would be interested in that application, vs. only half in the U.S. and 43 percent in South Korea, it said. "European consumers are more hesitant, with around one third of respondents in the U.K. expressing an interest and just one quarter in Germany. Men are rather more open to this idea than women and the difference between age groups is even more marked, with interest in using a smart watch for their health data increasing with age."