Geak Watch: Creating the Next Generation Smartwatches

The Geak Watch is a part of the growing business of smartwatch manufacturer Shanda. With more than 300,000 Geak watches sold in 2013, Shanda was cited as the world’s leading smartwatch producer in 2013. Geak’s market was limited to China at the onset of the productions but this year, Shanda has announced that the company is now ready to expand to international markets. Foxconn subsidiary Saibo Electronics was granted the license to sell Geak Watch in Southeast Asian markets this year.

At a price of $325, Geak Watch is relatively high although its initial sales performance has been very impressive. This indicates China’s evolution into a world-class technology hub. The figures also show that more and more Chinese can afford a relatively expensive gadget. Indeed, China is becoming a huge market.

As a product handled by Shanda, Geak’s connection with the Chinese market is already a given advantage over other foreign companies. The Chinese prefer Weibo over Facebook and Twitter; WeChat over WhatsApp, Baidu over Google. Non-domestic companies will have to hurdle these challenges first before becoming successful on the Chinese market. What do these tell about Geak? It has a competitive advantage.

The second version of Geak Watch comes in a round shape. In the smartwatch world, the round shape is more preferred. Geak’s strategy was to go for the Android Wear over Android 4.3 to build its own apps store is seen by many as a risky move. But for Shanda, those two operating systems have too much in common and Shanda perceives that it can change once they get further in the business.

Since Geak Watch was launched on July 3, 2013, Shanda reported sales of 300,000 units. Although this number is way below Samsung Galaxy Gear's 800,000 and just a little above Pebble Smart Watch’s 280,000, Geak Watch was manufactured by a Chinese producer that was playing on fewer resources. This year, CEO Gu Xiaobing promised extensive product development efforts to improve its service and app customization to bring a whole new product experience in 2014.