Is Moto Really Giving Up on Smartwatches?

Fariha Khan
December 5, 2016
1,296

Prior to the delay of Android Wear 2.0 partners such as LG, Huawei and Motorola declared that they would not release new smartwatches this year. Now it appear that the Lenovo-owned company will not be releasing a new wearable for unveiling the updated OS as well.

Shakil Barkat, the head of Global Product Development at Motorola and Lenovo’s mobile group expressed that there isn’t “enough pull in the market to put [a new smartwatch] out at this time.” Without Moto, Google will be deprived of a longtime mate for Wear 2.0’s launch in 2017.

He also stated that wearables do not have broad enough call for us to last to build on it year after year. At present, Moto’s line-up covers the 2nd generation Moto 360 as well. At the same time, the Moto 360 Sport announced that was dropped in 5 months only.

The refreshed OS is dedicated to making the smartwatch entirely independent from phones with cellular competences and other features that can be directed from the wrist as well. Besides, it brings developments for fitness, messaging and customization.

The absence of a new Moto device around the release of Android Wear 2.0 is a specific blow to Google’s wearable platform that has seen nonexistence luster launches in the past year from Polar, Nixon and Michael Kors. It perhaps doesn’t help the state that Google is believed to release its own Android Wear watches, that would compete with those from OEMs early in 2017.

Moto still believes that the wrist has worth and there will be a point where they offer significance to users more than they do at present. So it appears that in the long run we will ultimately see Moto present another wearable product.