If it’s Thursday, it must be doom for Apple.
Or Monday, or Tuesday, or …
Writing for the Motley Fool, Chris Neiger explains “Why Apple Inc. Should Be Scared of Android Wear” (tip o’ the antlers to @JonyIveParody).
Google’s new Android Wear OS will do for smart watches and other wearable tech what its older Android brother did for smartphones just a few years ago.
Start a race to the bottom in which companies vie with each other to churn out the cheapest possible hardware?
And that should make Apple very nervous.
Sure. How could it not want some of that action?
To help developers and phone makers make the jump from smartphones to smart watches a little less intimidating, Google’s Android Wear is designed with the small screen in mind, free from anything users don’t need or can’t use on a watch.
That doesn’t explain why Google’s example smartwatch has a little knob on it to wind it. Nothing can explain that. Unless Scott Forstall is already working at Google. That would, in fact, explain it.
One of the vital smartwatch actions Google provides is:
Can be used to control other screens, like smartphones and casting to TVs
Raise your hand if you’ve ever wanted to cast something from your watch to your TV.
Ha! That’s a trick, because the only people who would want to do that already own comically oversized Galaxy Gear watches and can’t raise their hands!
Take a look at Google’s video showcasing a bit of what Android Wear has to offer:
Here, watch a Google ad. No, go on. Watch it.
Where are you going?
Google said on its blog that it already has a list of phone makers it’s working with for Android Wear, including Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung.
Lists don’t lie, people.
Why this matters to Apple
Because everything is about Apple.
By releasing a specialized version of Android that’s optimized for wearables, the company shores up its place in the growing segment.
By the end of the year, we will all be wearing Android smartwatches. Then the Hunger Games begin.
Just a handful of companies control most of the Android-powered smartphone market, and I can’t imagine Android Wear devices being any different.
And one of them is Samsung, whose watches run Tizen right now.
This means there will be a flood of devices running Android Wear, possibly even before Apple launches its own smart watch.
Remember netbooks? Yeaaah.
When Apple debuted the iPhone with iOS, it was clearly years ahead of anything on the market.
The smartwatch market, however, is completely evolved and there is no room for improvement, as witnessed by the fact that we are all enjoying our new smartwatches so much.
Google is working closely with LG on its G Watch smartphone…
Well, you have to spend more time with the students that are having a hard time keeping up with the rest of the class, sure.
While Android Wear—which is still, of course, a developer preview—might move the state of the art of wearable technology from stone age to stones with slightly better UIs, suffice it to say that the wearable market is not exactly at peak maturation yet.