Google just purchased a company, WIMM Labs, to give its burgeoning smart watch business a boost.
The Android creator has been rumoured to be working on a smart watch for at least six months, but it appears that there has been activity within Google’s walls from early 2012.
According to GigaOm, plus a message on their website, WIMM employees were absorbed into Google’s Android team, as the eventual retail product will inevitably run a form of the OS. Sony’s Smart Watch, and Samsung’s upcoming Gear device, run Android as well.
WIMM had already been working on a smart watch running Android, and had developed a small set of “micro” apps that enhanced functionality between the wrist and smartphone, but worked largely on their own. The company posted a note on their site stating “During the summer of 2012, WIMM Labs entered into an exclusive, confidential relationship for our technology and ceased sales of the Developer Preview Kit.”
Judging from the WIMM One smartwatch, WIMM’s platform, as neat as it was, still needed work: The watch was thick and ungainly, and its battery struggled to eke out more than a few hours of usage between recharges.
Whether or not Google intends to release a smartwatch of its own, it certainly would like to see Android running on all sorts of wearable gadgets, which was the big idea behind WIMM in the first place.
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