Google Confirms It Has Acquired Android Smartwatch Maker WIMM Labs
Google Confirms It Has Acquired Android Smartwatch Maker
WIMM Labs
Natasha Lomas posted 4 hours ago
Google has confirmed it acquired WIMM Labs last year, a
company that previously made an Android-powered smartwatch before shuttering
operations in 2012. At the time a message on its website said it had entered
into an exclusive partnership without releasing further details, but it’s now
clear that partner was Google, rather than Apple as some had initially
speculated. Google’s WIMM Labs acquisition was reported earlier by Gigaom.
Google is rumoured to be developing a smartwatch of its
own, with patents turning up earlier this year (filed in 2011), and a report by
the FT that claimed Google’s Android team was in the process of developing such
a device. Google has also hinted at Android powering a range of wearable
devices in the past, when CEO Larry Page let slip during a quarterly earnings
call this year that Glass runs on its smartphone and tablet OS, and that
Android is “pretty transportable across devices”. Google has also long had
bigger ambitions for Android than just pushing it onto phones and tablets, with
TV set-top boxes, in-car tech, home automation and wearables all areas where
it’s actively encouraging Android to spread.
WIMM Labs started out building Android-based platforms
for wearable displays, akin to Google Glass, and then created the WIMM One in
2011: a smartwatch powered by Android 2.1 that was aimed at developers as a
sort of concept flagship ahead of a broader consumer launch. The WIMM One used
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g for connectivity, had 256 MB of RAM plus a 667MHz
processor, and used a screen design that refreshed once per minute to conserve
battery life. It also supported apps via a “Micro App Store” — installed and
managed by users via a web-based dashboard. Android developers were offered
custom APIs for adapting their software to the WIMM One’s tiny, 16-bit colour
screen.
Google is not commenting further on the acquisition at
this point, beyond providing confirmation that it picked up WIMM Labs in 2012.
If Mountain View is building its own smartwatch it’s unlikely to beat its Android
OEM partner Samsung to a launch, as the Korean company’s Galaxy Gear device is
probably going to be unboxed next week in Berlin at a September 4 event. Plenty
of other Android-powered smartwatches are also entering the frame via
crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, and also cropping up on the roadmaps of
other Android OEMs. Meanwhile Apple’s rumoured iWatch remains elusive.
If Google isn’t building its own smartwatch hardware,
acquiring WIMM Labs could be a way to help it develop a custom version of
Android designed for wrist-mounted wearables, which it could then provide to
OEMs the same way it currently does with Android proper. Given the amount of
interest in smartwatches from OEMs big and small, that could be the better
strategy for long-term platform growth.
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