User requirements of wearable technology for activity tracking a comparison between German and Chinese users

Abstract

Wearable technology has been enjoying a growth of market since it first caught attention of the public in 2010. More than 400 wearable devices have been developed and 60 % of them are activity trackers. China has a great market potential for wearable devices due to the high acceptance of wearable technology in Chinese users. It is important and necessary for designers to understand the specific user requirements and preferences of wearable devices for activity tracking and specify the different preferences among China and other countries. In this study, we collected both qualitative and quantitative user requirements of Chinese and Germans then compared the result to elicit practical design instructions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted firstly on ten Germans and ten Chinese to obtain qualitative requirements. A quantitative questionnaire was designed based on the findings of the interviews and a total of 158 respondents participated the survey (52 from Germany, 97 from China and 9 from other countries). Descriptive statistics were summarized and non-parametric tests were used to compare the requirements between Chinese users and German users.