The wearables market has been an interesting market to watch over the last twelve months. It seems to have slowly developed into what is becoming a mainstream market and all right in front of our eyes. At first, the talk of smartwatches (and the likes) seemed just a futuristic concept. A computer on your arm sort of thing. This ‘talk’ was then followed by a couple of the big manufacturing companies outputting their initial trial concept devices. Since then, more and more companies have started to announce their intention, if not announcing a device. It is almost as though, no one knew for sure whether the market would work and now that they have seen companies like Motorola, Samsung and LG selling their devices, those same skeptics are suddenly quick to jump onboard.
Swatch is a prime example of one of these companies. Swatch is a familiar name in the dumbwatch market and many people have probably owned a Swatch in the past, as they tend to be affordable watch options. A couple of years ago Swatch CEO Nick Hayek dismissed the idea of smartwatches as a ‘revolutionary’ concept. Now that the market seems to be working, the tide seems to have changed over at Swatch as they have today announced that they will be making a smartwatch and what’s more, it will be available within the next three months.
So what will a smart Swatch (or maybe even SmartSwatch) bring? Well, besides the announcing of its existence, the details were limited. As such, we don’t know. Hayek did say that the device would be compatible with android software (Windows too in case you are wondering) and that it would not need to be charged like conventional smartwatches. This is a bit of a bold statement and would suggest that the watch will be powered by a more traditional watch battery. We have seen a number of companies announce similar battery powered smartwatches already and the one thing they seem to have in common is a lack of functionality, compared to the more chargeable watches. Either way though, we won’t have to wait too long to see what Swatch brings to the smartwatch table. What do you think? Would you pick up a smart watch by Swatch. Let us know.