Friday, August 30, 2013

Google quietly assembles the right pieces to its own smartwatch division

When it comes to wearable technology, Google (among many others) isn’t joking around.* We’ve all seen the Google Glass and the possibilities that it holds in terms of augmented reality, but smartwatches are also on the agenda.




For now, we don’t know much about what Google designers and engineers are cooking up, but what we do know is the Mountain View-based search giant is snatching up smartwatch assets to secure a foothold in what some are predicting as the next lucrative boom in consumer tech.

One of the more recent acquisitions (although unconfirmed) is WIMM, a startup that showed some promising developments in the realm of smartwatch.* Not only did the startup develop an Android-based developer platform, but WIMM also produced its own smartwatch—the “WIMM One.”

According to Gigaom, many of WIMM’s employees chose to sign away their allegiance to Google even after the tiny boat was reeled in by the battleship.* Google has the man power and resources to research and develop a smartwatch from scratch, but the WIMM acquisition only helps to accelerate that process even more.* Also attached in the WIMM-Google deal was the change of ownership to smartwatch.com—which is quite big deal in this day and age.

While Apple and Google are resilient in their approach to keeping tight lips about whatever smartwatch products they may have in store for people in the future, Samsung has already jumped the gun and will unveil the Galaxy Gear in just a few days.* Sony, too, already launched their own smartwatches, although the welcoming party for their particular smartwatches has been very underwhelming.

Some could say that companies like Sony may have pulled the trigger a bit early, thus, giving its competitors an advantage in terms of overall development.* Still, without startups like Pebble and established companies like Sony kicking off the wearable movements, we probably won’t have much to say right now in regards to smartwatches and the likes.

Flexible displays, smartphone replacement, instant cloud access, cool digital accessories and whatever other possibilities you can come up with can be attributed to wearable gadgets.* Some may say that it will take a while for companies to produce wearable techs that will click with people’s fashion sense, and others may outright reject the idea of wearing a watch that has a battery life of just ten hours.

Whatever the case may be, tech giants from all corners of the globe believe it’s time for them to move beyond smartphones and tablets, and dive into something else that will revitalize people’s interest in mobile technology (or as I would like to call it, “wearmobiles”).

- Read more at http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-q...ion/54110.html






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