While many were hoping for Google to put out a new Android Wear smartwatch that was Pixel-branded, much like the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, that’s not what Google has done, and executives elaborated that is not what they have planned for Android Wear. Google’s vice president of engineering for Android Wear, David Singleton stated in an interview this week, that they are not planning to produce a smartwatch like a Pixel Watch, and reiterated that it’s important for Google to work closely with their partners.
Singleton also noted that on the packaging for the new LG Watch Style, Watch Sport and other Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches, you’ll see a tagline of “Designed with our Friends at Google”. Almost making it out to be a Nexus type of partnership, but not quite. Singleton believes that by working with partners like LG, they can achieve a whole lot more in the wearable space, than if Google or LG worked separately in the space. Singleton noted that it’s important to advance the ecosystem, but would not flat out say that they will never release a Pixel-branded smartwatch, so it could be in the cards in the coming years, as it appears he has left that door open. He did, however, note that this is not a hobby for Google. Stating that it’s important to their partners that Google not treat Android Wear as a hobby, and that they put as many resources into the platform as they need too. In tech companies like Google, saying that a project is a hobby typically means that they aren’t working on it all that hard. And you may see new hardware, or you might not. That’s not the case with Android Wear, thankfully for partners like LG, Huawei, Sony and others.
LG has two smartwatches with Android Wear 2.0 available, but they won’t be the only ones. There will be plenty more coming out in 2017 that are running Android Wear 2.0. Google Appears to be taking a slightly different approach to Android Wear than with standard Android. With Android, partners are able to do just about anything they want. But with Android Wear, it’s not customizable at all. Additionally, Google isn’t making hardware (like they are now with Android, through Pixel). So that instead of making everything run on Android Wear, Google is looking to only put out the best experiences for users, with Android Wear smartwatches, which is going to be a good thing in the long run.