San Francisco, Jul 21 (IANS): Chip-maker Qualcomm has announced to invest further in its new Snapdragon Wear Platform along with launching a Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Programme, as it reaches more than 40 million Snapdragon Wear shipments.

At a press event on Tuesday, Qualcomm Technologies also announced that more than 60 wearable industry leaders such as Arm, BBK, Fossil, Oppo, Verizon, Vodafone, and Zebra will participate in the new programme.

"Our Snapdragon Wear platforms are driving the industry, powering smartwatches for kids, seniors, and adults and smart trackers for pets and accessories," said Pankaj Kedia, senior director and global head, smart wearables, Qualcomm Technologies.

"We are significantly growing our investments in leading edge ground-up silicon, platforms, and technologies and plan to roll out new Snapdragon Wear platforms across segments over the next year to meet our long-term vision," Kedia said in a statement.

The wearables market grew 21 per cent year-over-year and shows no signs of slowing down

"Innovative form factors continue to emerge as consumers demand new use cases in wearable devices. The smartwatch segment is going well beyond health and fitness tracking, expanding across consumer and enterprise segments, and further fueling growth of the category," said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager, WW Mobile Device Trackers, IDC.

Qualcomm Technologies is actively collaborating with its customers and partners with the aim of meeting the ever-changing needs of the consumers.

"Our goal is to provide a vehicle in the industry where ecosystem members collaborate to deliver differentiated wearable experiences and inject new energy and innovation in this exciting space," Kedia noted.

According to Chris Hartley, Director of Category Strategy, Wearables, Fossil Group, thanks to the continued partnership with Qualcomm and the launch of its upcoming smartwatches later this year, "Fossil believes it's bringing the best possible Wear OS smartwatch to the market this year".