Smartwatch market still very much in its infancy

New figures from research and consultancy firm GfK show that the wrist-worn devices accounted for just 1.2% of the wearables market globally in 2014.

Fitness and activity trackers have however, already carved out a niche, clocking up 13.6 million sales over the past 12 months -- 44% of the entire wearables market.

And the buzz around wearables -- which GfK defines as smartwatches, wearable cameras, headsets, smart glasses and health and fitness trackers -- has clearly started building. In the major European markets, 36% of all sales in 2014 happend over the final three months of the year and this momentum is expected to continue.

GfK forecasts that total sales will hit 72 million by the end of 2015 and will have almost doubled again to 114 million in 2016.

The data, based on research carried out in February, was presented during the MedPi conference in Monaco on Wednesday.