This year could be a landmark year for Wear smartwatches. Back in the spring, Google and Samsung announced that they had teamed up to create a new operating system, Wear, which will offer the best firmware for wearable devices such as Google, Samsung and Fitbit. The chipmaker Qualcomm will help to fight Apple and its Watch.
The company issued a press release in which it announced that it is increasing the amount of investment to create new chips for wearable devices. Next year, it promises to report on the work done and present several new chips for smartwatches. There were no specifics about what the new processors will be.
Among other things, Qualcomm announced the launch of the Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator program, which aims to help wearable electronics manufacturers create and launch new devices. The chipmaker will try on the role of an intermediary, it will act as a focal point between various market participants who are working in the development, creation of components and wearable devices themselves, as well as software developers.
Qualcomm has announced that it is open to partnerships with all companies interested in launching devices with Snapdragon Wear chips. It seems that the chip maker wants to unite as many market participants as possible around it in order to act as a united front against Apple.
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āWe are delighted to announce the Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Program today and have an ambitious set of activities. Our goal is to provide a vehicle in the industry where ecosystem partners collaborate to deliver the differentiated wearable experiences; and inject new energy and innovation in this exciting space;āĀ said Pankaj Kedia, global head of the wearables segment, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Google to make it easier to find Wear OS apps in the Play Store
Google is preparing a fairly large update of the Play Store branded application store; one of the key points of which will be an easy search for software for wearable devices running the Wear OS platform.
Smartwatch owners will be able to find Wear OS compatible mobile apps; using their smartphone with less effort and install them quickly. The procedure will be extremely simplified.
The work of the Play Store on the smartwatch itself will also be simplified,; the principles of Google Material You corporate design will help in this. The app store interface got optimizations for miniature screens; and if necessary, the user will need to continue in the smartphone or sent a URL to make a purchase in the application; which will need to be opened in a browser to make a payment.
The innovation will become available in the “coming weeks”, specifies Google. The update will affect not only devices running pure Wear OS; but also products with the One UI Watch add-on, which is in development by Samsung in cooperation with Google.
