Tag: wearable tech

The handset maker isn’t about to be left behind in this massive wearable technology trend.

Motorola is now planning to leap right back into the wearable tech market, as it plans to launch its own smartwatches later on in 2014, according to an announcement that was made by Rick Osterloh, the company’s senior vice president.

This particular device is being designed to meet the needs that consumers have already expressed that they have.

According to Osterloh, the smartwatches that Motorola will be launching will have taken into account “consumer issues like style and battery life.” So far, those are both areas where companies have been struggling to keep up with the expectations that consumers have regarding these devices and their willingness to pay rather high price tags in order to obtain them. The announcement was made in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress, during a panel discussion.

These new smartwatches will not be the first time that Motorola has attempted to sell wearable technology.

That said, it is certain that Motorola is hoping that its future attempts with wearables will be far more successful than its previous ones. The MotoACTV was one of the last mobile devices that Motorola had launched that could be worn by the owner. It was an activity tracker that simply never caught on because of its weak battery life and its lack of visual appeal and style. Though the company had previously stepped back from this area, it is clear that it did not fail to closely examine the experience and to attempt to learn from its mistakes.

That said, it won’t be until the actual launch of the devices that the company will actually be able to prove whether or not it has managed to overcome the obstacles that held it back in the first place. Osterloh did not offer any additional details regarding the products themselves, nor anything that the consumer can expect from the release, such as price or the actual date that they will hit the shelves. However, he did point out that the company feels that this will be a very important area for its future.

This does not come as a surprise as wearable technology such as smartwatches is one of the hottest tech segments at the moment. In the middle of the spotlight, right now, are the Galaxy Gear devices from Samsung, as well as Pebble. That said, Apple is expected to come out with an iWatch at some point in the near future – if rumors are to be believed – and it shouldn’t be long before Google releases its own wearable that will have been manufactured by LG.

The latest rumor is that the South Korean device manufacturer will build the competition for the iWatch for the tech giant.

Recent news published in The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Google is on its way to creating smartwatches, and that it is LG that is the company behind their manufacture.

This will considerably expand the hardware partnership between Google and LG.

The news publication said that it obtained the information about the Google smartwatches in Barcelona, through a “person familiar with the situation”. This will bring both industry giants into the wearable technology domain in a tremendous way. That said, LG may not be the only manufacturer that will be involved in making the wrist worn devices.

It might be that the Google smartwatches will use a strategy similar to that used for its Nexus devices.

Google’s Nexus tablets and smartphones draw hardware from more than one company. It wouldn’t be unheard of for it to do the same for its wearable tech, as well. None of this will be revealed for certain until some point in March, when it is rumored – according to CNET – that Google will be unveiling the operating system. That said, the actual reveal for the mobile devices, themselves, will likely not be until June at their I/O conference.

Similar details have been showing up online in many places that have been accurate with their predictions in the past.

This is not the first that the world has heard of a smartwatch device from Google. Reports began to make their way into the mainstream press last October, when they were saying that these gadgets could be unveiled within the upcoming months.

Other predictions that are being made about these wearable tech gadgets are that they will help to place a more powerful focus on glanceable information and on Google Now. However, at this point in the game, very little else is known about what the device will entail. Once Google does make its entry into the market, it will have competition from other smartwatches that are already on their way to establishing themselves, such as Galaxy Gear and Pebble, as well as the rumored iWatch from Apple.