In case you were afraid the Samsung vs. Apple battle wasn’t hot enough, it appears the two will be going head to head in yet another arena: smart watches. The Samsung smart watch is apparently in the works, according to a statement by a Samsung executive. No details about the watch were given. Yet, speculation is already underway that Samsung’s strategy will be to undercut Apple’s notoriously high prices. (Plans for an Apple smart watch leaked recently.)
All this of course comes just days after Samsung released its new Galaxy S4, its challenger to the iPhone’s dominance in the premium smartphone market. While watches look to be the next battle for the two tech giants, the more interesting battle in my mind is actually smart watches vs. smart glasses. And Samsung’s entrance into the former category makes it all the more interesting. (PandoDaily notes that Samsung has been in the watch category for a while.)
According to an analyst cited by Bloomberg, the global watch industry is expected to do $60 billion in sales this year, and the barriers to adoption for a smart watch seem drastically lower than for smart glasses. The usual list of smart watch features include stuff like making and screening calls, checking directions, changing your music, etc. Basically a remote control for your smartphone that lives on your wrist.
Make no mistake: these two very different devices will be going head to head. Both offer essentially the same convenience – access to mobile computing without holding a device in your hand – and even wealthier consumers will be unlikely to buy both, at least outside the early adopter tech crowd. (I’m picturing those Mac vs. PC commercials with an Apple guy sporting a cool watch and a nerdy guy wearing smart glasses.)
And yet unless Samsung forks Android to customize its own operating system between now and the smart watch release, its device will presumably be running the mobile operating system created and led by Google. So Google’s interests may be somewhat divided in the smart watch vs. smart glasses battle.
One thing to watch in all this is what happens to Pebble, the startup that has beat the big guys to the smart watch market on the strength of a $10 million Kickstarter campaign. Will they become an actual player? Or will they prove that tech projects like that on Kickstarter are just a cheap way for Samsung and Apple to decide what they should make next?
Another possibility is that watches make sense for the consumer segment, but glasses end up catching on in certain segments of industry.
In any case, expect the wearable tech wars to start heating up, with advocates lining up on each side. I’m on team four eyes.
