Google is not being shy about entering the wearable technology market.
They dove in head first with their bold Glass project, which was met with a pretty warm reception despite early privacy concerns. Now, their newly discovered acquisition of WIMM Labs shows that they don't plan on slowing down anytime soon. Google does not want to be late to the party on this one. But, if you are into parties and smartwatches, Samsung (might) be beating them to the punch launching the Galaxy Gear next week (we hope they have balloons). Continuing on, this acquisition of Google comes to no surprise among rumors that Apple too is working on wearable technology. With all the big players throwing in chips, there's no reason why Google would want to sit out and spectate at a distance.
The marriage of WIMM Labs and Google makes a lot of sense as the WIMM One, WIMM Labs' one and only product, ran Android 2.1 atop a custom design UI. This throws out the welcome mat and puts Google right at home. With an OS whose roots are already tapped into the Android environment, it makes it easy for Google to adapt WIMM's software for its own needs. In addition, with the acquisition Google gains WIMM's own "micro" app store, dev program, and a small legion of willing developers, not to mention their smartwatch building know-how. Google is quite possibly looking to polish up WIMM's head start into the wrist technology arena to take on the emerging wearable market full force.
If they were to dish out a mainstream and easy-to-use smartwatch, the game is still young enough that they could take it all the way to the bank.
Source: GigaOm | WIMM Watch Image via Technabob
13 Comments - Add comment