Last Wednesday saw Google announce its long-awaited Pixel Watch– which would expand the tech giant’s sphere into hardware. The company then went on to tease its first smartwatch during the conference but hasn’t yet revealed all of the plans. In fact, they would be doing so much closer to the fall launch of the device. The watch, according to reports, has a domed circular design- and will be running on Google’s Wear OS smartwatch software- which would be including quite a few health-tracking features of Fitbit. Interestingly, Google didn’t really announce the watch’s price but did say that it would be a premium product.
Pixel Watch Could Be Google’s Flagship product In the Smartwatch Market
This Pixel Watch is symbolic of the first significant step taken by Google into the market of smartwatches– which did see shipments growing by 24% in 2021- as reported by Counterpoint Research. Currently, Google is a newcomer to this whole new market. Rivals like Samsung and Apple have already been leading the race, and have been selling smartwatches for the last few years. Google did recently see its new smartwatch as a crucial element in building the brand Pixel into an entire ecosystem of products similar to those offered by Samsung and Apple, spanning tablets, phones, wireless earbuds, and other smartwatches.
The research director for International Data Corporation, Ramon Llamas, reported that Google had already provided a Pixel phone, Pixel buds, and YouTube music. And now, Google was bringing its latest product as a direct competitor to Apple- the Pixel Watch.
This announcement does come almost a year after the acquisition of Fitbit by Google. While the team of Fitbit has been leading the development of the new Pixel Watch, the parent company has no plans of merging the two lines, as reported by Rick Osterloh.
