Boston, MA – April 22, 2015 – New research from the Strategy Analytics’ Application Strategies group suggests the early success of the Apple Watch will bring new attention and investment to the app ecosystem as unheralded categories rise in importance. 

According to the report The Apple Watch: A Fundamental Change in the App Market analyzing the first 65 Apple Watch apps announced the following categories are likely to see the greatest short term impact from the Apple Watch: Communication/Social, Finance, Health & Fitness and Travel & Local. Other categories will also be impacted in the mid to longer term.

For categories that have struggled to be seen as more than a utility – The Apple Watch could be the beginning of an important market shift. Travel is a good example. Travel apps – those developed by hotels, airlines and OTAs struggle to be seen as more than a utility. In fact, the category represents just 1% of all sessions - according to our AppOptix panel of more than 2,000 US participants - and just 3% of the most popular app downloads in the United States in 2015 – according to AppTRAX. As the Apple Watch launches, travel apps represent 15% of more than 60 of the announced launch apps. The gaming category on the other hand experiences a steep decline from more than 50% of the most popular applications downloaded overall  to just 5% of early Apple Watch apps, creating new opportunity for less popular categories.

The categories likely to benefit from the Apple Watch will finally be able to offer a new form of convenience and differentiation. As a result lesser utilized and downloaded categories which are focused on lifestyle augmentation and intermittent convenience will be in direct alignment with the Apple Watch’s use case and see increased usage and reliance as a result.

According to Joshua Martin, “Wearables have been touted for a long time but Apple is truly bringing the category to the masses with the early success of the Apple Watch. Companies in many categories – such as travel and health & fitness - will be forced to integrate applications more tightly with their short and long term strategy, product development, and marketing in order to resonate with Apple Watch owners.