Swatch reveals smart watch you don't need to charge each night 鈥� or ever
With the Apple Watch debut only months away, legacy timepiecemaker Swatch made waves with the announcement it is set to drop its own smart watch, that won't need to be charged, in the next three months.
With the Apple Watch debut only months away, legacy timepiecemaker Swatch made waves with the announcement it is set to drop its own smart watch, that won't need to be charged, in the next three months.
Usually news about smart watches comes from a tech company looking to introduce yet another mobile device. But this time, it鈥檚 a watch company, Swatch, that is aiming to get into the technology game with its own smart watch.
And Swatch has something people are probably going to want: a smart watch that doesn鈥檛 need to be charged.
The Switzerland-based watch company, primarily known for its funky, brightly colored fashion wristwatches, told investors it is creating a smart watch that will not need to be recharged.
The watch, which will likely be released in the next two to three months, will be able to make mobile payments, connect to the Internet, and work with multiple operating systems (though not Apple's iOS), according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Does this tech outsider, but timepiece insider, have a device that could compete with Apple on the eve of the Apple Watch?
Nick Hayek, chief executive of Swatch, didn鈥檛 say much further beyond the above details to Bloomberg when making this announcement, but that hasn鈥檛 stopped speculation. The company has previously mentioned a hope to add fitness tracking to its watches, which is now a standard feature on smart devices. The company also makes relatively affordable luxury timepieces (usually below $200) so we could see a price comparative or even below the Apple Watch鈥檚 $349 starting price (though that is not counting the cost of the required iPhone). It isn鈥檛 likely that Swatch鈥檚 offering will provide any sort of smart watch innovations, but for someone curious about the option of adding tech to their everyday watch, this could play well.
Though the smart watches have been primarily tech companies鈥� game thus far, legacy watchmakers have started to hint at their own smart offerings. Tag Heur and Montblanc both dabbled in smart tech this year, with Tag Heuer set to release a watch with GPS and health monitoring functions, and Montblanc debuting a smart band for its watchband that tracks user activity.
Tech experts are intrigued, but skeptical of Swatch鈥檚 upcoming offering. VentureBeat鈥檚 Mark Sullivan points out that though the interest in smart watches is clearly heating up, Swatch鈥檚 CEO wasn鈥檛 on board until as recently as two years ago, when he said the smart watch wouldn鈥檛 be a 鈥渞evolution鈥� for the industry. That internal skepticism may show through in the device.
鈥淪watch is an old-school Swiss watchmaker struggling to make peace with a very new paradigm,鈥� he writes. 鈥淭he point is that when a company鈥檚 CEO finally throws his weight behind a product category just months before the market leader (Apple) is set to announce its flagship product, the internal culture in a huge group like Swatch can鈥檛 be firing on all cylinders when it comes to designing and building a killer smart watch.鈥�
Regardless, with the Apple, Samsung, Sony, Pebble, and now Swatch getting in the game, the race for your wrist is on this spring.