Analyst firm Canalys believes those small things will be very successful

Jul 17, 2013 11:42 GMT  ·  By

Though some might not believe it, over 330,000 smartwatches were shipped last year (2012), with Sony and Motorola accounting for most of them.

Now, with Pebble and others of its ilk making the rounds around the world, sales can only go up.

This is the feeling of market analyst Canalys, whose surveys and studies suggest that at least 500,000 units will sell in 2013, only to erupt in 2014.

I can only assume that the firm expects a million or more watches to sell next year.

Seeing as how Apple, Microsoft, Google and Samsung will all join in on the fun, I can definitely see something like that happening.

"ARM architecture licensees that design custom silicon will enjoy significant hardware advantages in this space," Canalys analyst Daniel Matte indicated in the same statement.