Purchase by Google of WIMM Labs Indicator of Another Smartwatch to Compete with Galaxy Gear, iWatch (VIDEOS)
Google confirmed over the weekend that it bought WIMM Labs during summer of 2012. The buy-out involved WIMM Labs entering into an exclusive, confidential relationship for its technology and stop of sales of its Developer Preview Kit.
The acquisition means there would likely be another player in the growing smartwatch market as Samsung, Sony and Apple plan to roll out their own versions of smart timepieces.
Samsung, the South Korean tech giant, is slated to unbox on Wednesday, Sept 4, the Galaxy Gear, while Sony will unveil on Monday, Sept 9, the Sony Smartwatch 2.
With the entry of Google, that would mean there would possibly be at least three makers of smartwatches using the Android OS, while Apple's planned iWatch will use its iOS. Techradar wrote that Google may possibly assign the creation of its own version of smartwatch to Motorola, based on a job listing posted by Google that requires applicants to have wearable technology experience.
However, Google may also pair with Google Glass, based on a recent patent.
But ZDNET pointed out that smartwatches have been around for a few years but have failed to capture buyers' attention because it gets boring to use one over time since its limited functionality wears thin as the days pass and it eventually ends up unused by the owner.
"There's no compelling reason to look at the watch when you have a nice, big, high-resolution screen in your hand. The smartwatch ends up being used mostly as, you guessed it, a watch. Even that is less than useful as the time is displace on that iPhone in the hand," the Web site pointed out.
ZDNET said that while Apple would likely give the iWatch the ability to run apps to make the timepiece useful, one major problem is the small screen which limits functionality. And if it would be a touch screen, displaying icons and controls large enough to be tapped with a finger would fill up the screen.