The era of the smartwatch is just about here – and it’s Google, not Apple, that’s leading the charge.
LG Electronics and Motorola announced on Tuesday that they would begin producing smartwatches that run on the latest version of Google’s Android operating system for wearable devices, in a new line dubbed Android Wear.
Details about the operating system were first revealed in a blog post, with the companies closely working with the electronics manufacturers Asus, HTC and Samsung, as well as chip makers Broadcom Imagination, Intel, Mediatek and Qualcomm. Fashion brand Fossil Group was also involved with the design of Android Wear, which should launch later this year.
The watches are likely to use the Google Now technology, a personal-assistant software that makes recommendations and answers questions from users, as well as predict trends for particular users.
This allows Google to get a huge jump over Apple in the smartwatch market, as it hasn’t announced what its plans are for its own form of the technology.
Source: Wall Street Journal
