ZTE launches first smart watch

Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone manufacturer ZTE Corp released its first smartwatch product in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, the world's largest technology trade event.

The ZTE Blue Watch is expected to hit the worldwide market in the first quarter of the year. Compared with other smartwatch products such as Samsung Electronics Co's Galaxy Gear, ZTE's Blue Watch is equipped with more social networking, entertainment and health tracking functions, according to the company.

ZTE's high-level management regards the wearable gadgets market as a "blue sea", since no company currently dominates this new field and every player has an equal opportunity. Consulting company ABI Research predicted that the total shipment of wearable devices would reach 500 million units within five years.

Credit Suisse Group estimated that the volume of the global wearable device market could increase to $30 billion to $50 billion within two to three years, from a current market volume of $3 to $5 billion.