A few days ago, the second fiscal quarter ended and the major technology companies reported on their achievements. These reports shed light on a rather alarming trend for the portable electronics market. It seems that this most worn-out electronics is not particularly needed by anyone.

Consider the situation on the example of two companies, the most important for the market - Apple and Fitbit.

Fitbit - the king of fitness trackers. Over the past quarter, the company sold 3.4 million devices. Not bad, but it does not go to any comparison with the 5.7 million fitness trackers that were filed for the same period last year.

Apple has the opposite situation. Specific figures the company did not name, but reported that sales of smart watches Apple Watch compared to the previous quarter increased by 50%. Analysts attribute this to the availability of cheaper Apple Watch models, which were simply not available last year. According to the calculations of the research company Strategy Analytics, in the last quarter, Apple sold 2.8 million smart-hours. Add to this the still claimed 50%, and you will see that on sales of this gadget Apple bypasses fitness trackers Fitbit.

All this tells us that users have really little interest in portable electronics. They want either Apple Watch because it's a well-known brand. Or a simple and cheap toy, like a basic fitness tracker from Fitbit or Xiaomi. And what about the other manufacturers?.

Death of an idea.

The rest of the producers are not at all rosy. In fact, the market of portable electronics can be considered dead.

Wear gadgets from Samsung and LG with great difficulty have occupied and retain their small niche in this market. Motorola generally refused the production of smart watches. A brilliant startup Pebble, who was predicted a great future couple of years ago, had to sell himself. And the company Jawbone, one of the most interesting manufacturers of portable electronics, in July announced the closure and sale of its assets.

In fact, we are watching the death of the idea. Ideas that portable electronics can become a new significant computing platform. Smart-watches are almost useless to anyone, so that application developers for them massively curtail their projects and remove workings from stores.

And even more or less successful brands do not seem to have anything good in the future.

Fitbit fulfills the old promise.

On Wednesday, representatives of Fitbit announced that the company will release a smart watch this winter closer to the New Year holidays. The launch of the device could take place earlier, but several times was postponed for technical reasons.

The new product will immediately find itself in a difficult situation. First, he will have to compete with Apple Watch. Secondly, Fitbit recently told The Verge that their device will be launched simultaneously with the new application platform. It seems that the company uses the achievements of Pebble to build its own ecosystem. But this tactic did not work either in the case of the same Pebble, nor in the case of other manufacturers. Users do not need a rich ecosystem of applications for smart watches. So it is very unlikely that the new product Fitbit will be able to breathe new life into the dying market and will become truly successful. It seems that the company at last simply wants to fulfill the old promise - to release the same smart clock that they have been preparing since 2014.

Apple returns to basics.

Although Apple Watch is quite popular, the company has faced the same problems as other manufacturers. As it turned out, a very small percentage of users need some complicated and smart functions on the clock. Most need the minimum - the function of time, notifications and fitness tracker.

The ecosystem of applications for smart watches, which Apple was building with such zeal, was practically useless. So in the future the company will focus on the development and improvement of the most demanded functions - health monitoring, GPS, water resistance. In general, Apple's smart watch will become something like an advanced fitness tracker.

Google works in a traditional way.

Google operates in a traditional way and relies entirely on third-party developers. While Apple and Fitbit are trying to sell as many of their own devices, Google only delivers the operating system Android Wear. A production is engaged in already known watch companies like Fossil, Tag Heuer or Movado.

These companies have a very long history and well-established target audience.

For them, a smart watch is just an attempt to freshen up a model series and, perhaps, attract new customers from among people who prefer a proven classics. About any kind of progress with this approach, one can not speak.

Glitter of worn electronics faded. The wave of first delights subsided, exposing the harsh reality. And the reality is this: wearable electronics - extremely niche products that are of little interest to the mass user. Mankind is very quickly tired of a new toy.