Tag: wearable tech

Smartwatch partnership forms among Intel, Google, and TAG Heuer

| March 25, 2015

These companies have banded together to be able to launch luxury wearables before the year is done.

The Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show in Basel, Switzerland was hyped with announcements about wearable technology, such as the luxury smartwatch that is expected to result from a new partnership among Google, Intel, and the TAG Heuer Swiss watch-making company.

The goal of the companies is to create a device that is both practical to the wearer, as well as luxurious.

The CEO of TAG Heuer, Jean-Claude Biver, said that “Silicon Valley is Switzerland, Switzerland is Silicon Valley.” He pointed out that the device that the partners would be designing would be “both luxurious, and seamlessly connected to its wearer’s daily life.” He closed his announcement with a ceremonial slicing into an 80+ pound wheel of cheese from his own farm.

Biver’s statement showed that the smartwatch is the latest component of watch-making innovation.

Smartwatch Partnership - Google, Tag Heuer & IntelHe explained that by bringing together the technology of Silicon Valley and the watch-making of Switzerland, it is a “marriage” of innovation and credibility. He expressed that “Our collaboration provides a rich host of synergies, forming a win-win partnership, and the potential for our three companies is enormous.”

The companies have yet to name the wearable technology device that they intend to launch, but they do know that a chipset designed by Intel will be powering it, it will operate on Android Wear (the modified version of the standard mobile operating system from Google), and TAG Heuer will be designing the actual watch that will be worn by the owner. The availability and pricing of these wearables was also not revealed, but Biver did state that it could be launched anywhere between October and December 2015.

While TAG Heuer will be designing the watch, because of the smartwatch components of the device and as a result of the international method of assembly and manufacturing, the smartwatch that these companies will be producing will not have an actual “Swiss-made” timepiece certification. That said, it will be enhancing the early entry of Google and Intel into the very promising wearable technology marketplace.

Wearable technology isn’t winning over the U.K.

| March 24, 2015

People in the country have yet to be convinced that they will be impressed with ownership of wearables.

According to the results of a recent study, people across the United Kingdom have yet to warm to wearable technology to the point that they will believe that their lives will be changed enough by these gadgets that it will be worth actually buying them.

In fact, the research indicated that 1 in 10 consumers feel that wearables will make their daily lives more challenging.

While people in the United Kingdom have been quick to embrace many other forms of technology, as smartphones penetration is tremendous there, but wearable technology has failed to win over that population, as of yet. This is the case, regardless of the fact that some of the most beloved brands, including Apple, have launched or even rolled out their own gadgets. Moreover, people in the U.K. aren’t even convinced by collaborations with some of the most prominent designers.

Only 25 percent of British people feel that their daily lives would be improved by wearable technology.

Wearable Technology - Not impressing UKThe survey was held by British Gas on behalf of Hive and it involved the participation of 2,000 people. It has arrived at the same time that the British Government revealed that it would be making investments worth several million pounds toward automatic vehicles and devices for connected homes. Clearly, the British people don’t hesitate to look to the future of tech, but smartwatches simply don’t appear to be on this list.

The 25 percent of people who felt that their day to day lives would be improved by wearables represented a much lower figure than those who were on board with connected home devices. A much more notable 56 percent felt that connected home devices would change their lives . Moreover, 43 percent feel that artificial intelligence would help to make their daily lives more simple. About 30 percent of people felt that driverless cars and 3D printers would enhance their everyday lives.

With the high expectations for all of these other types of tech, it is interesting that smartwatches and other types of wearable technology have not managed to show their appeal to this same population.