Ondrej Holzman Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer has announced how it intends to deal with the Apple Watch: it will work with Google and Intel. The result should be a luxury smart watch with a Swiss design, Intel internals and the Android Wear operating system at the end of this year at the earliest.
TAG Heuer declined to reveal further details at the Baselworld 2015 watch and jewelry show, keeping the price and features of the upcoming watch under wraps. All that is certain now is that Google will supply them with its Android Wear platform, help with software development, and Intel will contribute the system-on-a-chip that will power the watch.
For Jean-Claude Biver, head of the watch department at TAG Heuer's parent company, LVMH, it was "the biggest announcement ever" in his 40-year career in the industry. According to him, it will be "the best connected watch" and "a combination of beauty and utility".
TAG Heuer is expected to directly build the Apple Watch, which will hit the market in April. With steel models and a gold Edition series, Apple is targeting wealthier users, and it is likely that TAG Heuer will also come out with very expensive watches that will serve primarily as a fashion item.
The most expensive steel watch from Apple costs up to a thousand dollars, the gold Watch costs from ten to seventeen thousand. TAG Heuer's current mechanical watches are also in similar price ranges, so it looks like it will be the first truly luxury product with Android Wear.
Biver, which in January about the Apple Watch he declared, that this is a fantastic product, has finally at least partially revealed what users can expect from TAG Heuer in terms of smartwatches. "People will feel like they're wearing a regular watch," he said, adding that his company's first smartwatch will be strikingly similar to black Carrera models.
Regarding the collaboration with Google, Biver admitted that it would be "arrogant of TAG Heuer to believe that we could develop our own operating system", which is why the Swiss decided to use the Android Wear platform. According to Biver, a connection with Apple was also in play, but from TAG Heuer's point of view, it did not make sense when Apple itself makes watches.
Much more important than Android Wear as such, however, for the success of TAG Heuer's smart watches, will be the fact whether they will be able to cooperate with the iPhone. Unthinkable yet, but according to Ben Bajarin, Google will is going to to announce that Android Wear will also work with iOS.
According to many journalists and analysts, this is the key to the success of luxury watches with Android Wear. There is no doubt that iPhones attract wealthier users who are willing to pay more money for such products. At the moment, Android cannot offer such a luxurious phone as, for example, a golden iPhone, with which many can certainly imagine the connection of a luxury TAG Heuer watch better.
Android wear + iOS? :D I don't know why TAG HEUER bet on this. That will be a failure again
Because they don't have many other options when they want to create a smart watch and equip it with capable software
I prefer to keep my diamond breitlings.