The past couple of years in tech shows and conferences, it was all about smartwatches and the latest ones from brands who joined the fray. But it seems that the same OEMs are now in a wait and see pattern when it comes to the industry, as companies like LG, Huawei, and Lenovo have seemingly stopped time, or at least making time pieces on the Android Wear platform. In the meantime, the market turns its eyes to fitness bands and maybe even standalone, cellular-connected wearables.
While Samsung is set to release the Gear S3 and of course Apple unveiling its Series 2 for the Apple Watch, the OEMs who embraced Android Wear the previous year have now become a bit more cautious when coming up with new products. LG did release its G Watch Urbane 2 2nd edition earlier this year but will not release another new one for the latter half of the year and Huawei and Lenovo are holding off as well, with all probably trying to see which wearable trend will actually stick.
Fitness bands seem to still be a popular choice among the general public as the outright benefits of this is appealing especially for those who are trying to monitor their activities or even as simple as counting their steps. Smartwatches that are independent of a connected smartphone are also becoming a thing, since companies like Qualcomm have made available templates for cellular-connected devices.
Traditional watchmakers like Fossil, Michael Kors, etc have also embraced making connected timepieces. Two things that smartwatch makers have to overcome are its bulk (the Gear S3 seems to be bigger!) and the short battery life. Meanwhile, the upcoming Android Wear 2.0 seems promising, but let’s see if this will change the industry significantly.
VIA: CNet
This seems pretty irrelevant to me. There is only one more quarter this year. They didn’t say anything about Q1 next year or anything else.
What’s the point of missing out the 4Q holiday shopping season.
Because they aren’t phones so no one is going be upgrading to the new version.
Chances are these are bought as gift, so any brand not releasing in 4q is missing out on the biggest shopping season.
OR, because I doubt the average person knows the difference, they’ll just buy current ones for sale. Not missing out on anything.
Most of them released products in the last 10-12 months and the watch market just isn’t moving that fast.