The battle of the “smartwatches” is about to begin between Swatch and Apple. According to Swatch’s CEO, Nick Hayek, their smartwatch should start shipping over the next few months.
Swatch is a Swiss company with a long history of making outstanding timepieces with unique and colorful designs. The new smartwatch about to be launched is designed to work with Windows and Android software. In addition, this product will make it possible for wearers to make mobile payments.
At this time, no specific information was provided about the Swatch smartwatch regarding price and how it will interface with software. However, with this product entering the market around the same time Apple will launch its first smartwatch, as well as expand the mobile wallet product is interesting.
The debut for Apple’s smartwatch will be this coming April. This product is designed with a number of features such as fitness tracking but in addition, it has messaging capability for emails and text messages. The Apple smartwatch can also provide wearers with accurate directions. In addition, the company launched its own mobile payment system known as Apple Pay.
Just two years ago, Hayek was not impressed with smartwatches and the impact they would have but now, it appears he has had a complete change of mind. In fact, he had said at one time that this product would not be as revolutionary as what everyone was saying because consumers would be reluctant to buy. He even raised concerns about watching tiny screens and the difficulty this would present for communications.
In a new statement, Hayek said that some of the Swatch products scheduled to launch something this year will be a direct reflection of the record number of 2014 patent applications. For instance, there is a patent for batteries made from materials capable of enhancing performance. According to Hayek, the smartwatch being offered by Swatch will be designed to connect to the internet but without needing to be charged.
With the Swatch smartwatch, consumers will have the option of making payments to two of the biggest retailers in Switzerland although discussions are occurring with a number of other companies.
In addition to Apple getting some competition from Swatch, they will go up against another well-known watchmaker, TAG Heuer. Sometime this year, that company is also planning to enter the smartwatch market with a product that has functions for health monitoring and GPS.
Currently, Montblanc has its own take on the smartwatch as well. Their product connects to mobile devices running on Android and iOS using Bluetooth and tracks activities.