Android Wear started off with a bang but in recent times its development and device releases have slowed, most notably with Google delaying Android Wear 2.0 until 2017. Motorola, manufacturer of what used to be the best looking Android Wear watch going around, have decided to push Android Wear aside, at least for now.
Today Shakil Barkat, head of global product development at Motorola, has confirmed that they will not be releasing a new smartwatch this year, nor will they be releasing one when Google finally does unveil Android Wear 2.0.
Barkat said:
“We do not see enough pull in the market to put [a new smartwatch] out at this time. Wearables do not have broad enough appeal for us to continue to build on it year after year.”
While a new wearable device will not be in the annual device road map for Motorola they will look at revisiting the decision should technologies for smartwatches improve. Barkat said that they “believe the wrist still has value and there will be a point where they provide value to consumers more than they do today”.
Android Wear 2.0 is slated to bring some new enhancements to the platform, and this can and will run on older smartwatches, with it running on the Huawei watch already (in beta form) and Motorola saying that the 2015 version of the Moto 360 to receive it as well. The Moto 360 from 2014 will not receive the update, though.
Motorola, it seems, have decided that they do not see any point in releasing a new watch when it would be only a very small iteration on top of what they already have. I have to agree with this outlook, as my Huawei Watch is still extremely relevant (and Chris believes the Moto 360 v2 is as well) and the newer watches do not offer any major improvements in technology over what that has, and both are over a year old now.
Anyone else see Android Wear stagnating? How can Google rectify this?
