Here’s a statement that should fill everyone with optimism: Facebook is building an Android smartwatch! This is according to a new report from The Information, which says that the watch should be on the market next year.
Sources tell The Information that the watch will be a standalone device that can connect to cellular networks without connecting to a smartphone. The report makes it sound as if Facebook wants to build its own smartwatch ecosystem, saying that the device “can allow carriers to send messages using Facebook’s services and also provide health and fitness features.” The app later added that ‘Facebook hopes to highlight features that utilize the skill on social networks, such as allowing users to track their workouts with friends or communicate with their coach’ and that Facebook ‘plans to allow the device to connect to the services or hardware. of health and fitness businesses, such as Peloton Interactive. ‘
Will the project be successful? Let’s just say that every word in the phrase ‘Facebook Android Smart Watch’ is a cause for concern. Excluding the acquired Oculus VR division, Facebook’s hardware efforts have not worked out well. The closest previous project to a smartwatch is the Facebook Phone, or the HTC First. Facebook and HTC collaborated in 2013 to design a smartphone using HTC’s hardware and Facebook’s software. Facebook has made a custom Android skin with a new, Facebook-centered home screen and a few other additions. The phone lasted one month on the market. Facebook’s newer, less historically disastrous hardware effort is the Facebook Portal line, which is a series of video chat devices available in various smart display form factors and as a set-top box for your TV. It did not sell well in the normal market, but when the pandemic started, the Portal TV sold out along with every other video chat device.
Counterpoint research
Android does not have much future in smartwatches. Google’s version of Android, WearOS, which focuses on smartwatches, looks like a dead platform and in H1 2020 captured only 10 percent of the global smartwatch market, according to the most recent report by Counterpoint Research. There is no developer base for WearOS because sales are so low. All the equipment manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Huawei and Motorola fled from the platform leaving only the fashion brands over the pieces. Google also seems to have abandoned the development of the platform, with the last major WearOS update released in 2018.
It’s not clear if Facebook will really use WearOS for this smartwatch. The report states that ‘[t]he watch would be used on an open source version of Google’s Android software. ‘WearOS is not an open source, so creating a WearOS watch will involve signing an agreement with Google and complying with its requirements. If the report is aware of the esoteric licensing Android source code, it sounds like Facebook will fork out Android phones and make its own version of Android-for-smartwatches, thus removing any unnecessary features. Facebook is then responsible for running an app store, developing APIs and a million other The information also drops a fun thing that Facebook, is also building its own operating system for future hardware, although the original versions of the smartwatch will use some derivative of Android.
An important driver for the failure of WearOS, which Facebook must also take into account, is that Qualcomm has historically not been so interested in supporting a smartwatch ecosystem with hardware. Qualcomm launched its first smartwatch SoC in 2014 and then took six years before releasing a new smartwatch chip that could be considered a major upgrade. The mid-2020 release of the Snapdragon Wear 4100 means that Facebook currently has a decent but not-so-amazing option for a smartwatch chip, but it’s not clear whether Qualcomm intends to make the chip again in six years. was not or whether he intends to actually improve smartwatch year-on-year improvements now. Apple and Samsung both make their own SmartWatch SoCs, which are not for sale to other manufacturers. If you are looking for a smart watch SoC to buy, this is Qualcomm or bust.
The smartwatch market is completely dominated by Apple, which according to the same report from Counterpoint Research has 51 percent of the global smartwatch market. The rest of the smartwatch market is a bunch of struggling suppliers with custom systems, all under 10 percent each – companies like Samsung, Huawei and Garmin.
The Information says Facebook’s smartwatch printing is part of a larger plan aimed at “controlling the next computer platforms to smartphones.” In the smartphone era, Facebook is at the mercy of the two major providers of smartphone operating systems, Google and Apple, which do not have a particularly good relationship with Facebook. Google is a competitor of Facebook in user tracking, platforms and advertising. Apple’s pursuit of privacy (which it considers an important distinction between Android and iOS) has led the company to attack Facebook directly. If Facebook owns the platform, it will have a lot more freedom to do what it wants – freedom, which probably involves tracking users.