It's been rumored for sometime now and we finally have proof that Google is working on its own smartwatch. It secretly acquired an Android smartwatch company in 2012.
In just a few days Samsung will launch its very first Android smartwatch. It will beat its biggest rival Apple, and frenemy Google in bringing a smartwatch to the market first. The Galaxy Gear will give Samsung a jump-start in the smartwatch world and it has some pretty impressive rumored specs. We just reported that the Galaxy Gear will use a 2.5-inch OLED display, run Android Jelly Bean, will be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, pack 1GB of RAM, come in either 6GB or 8GB models, and include a 4-megapixel camera that will record 720p video. The specs sound like something found in a smartphone, but as everyone knows wearable tech is considered to be the next big thing, and that's why Apple and Google are prepping their own smartwatches.
We've heard more rumors about Apple's rumored iWatch than we have about what Google plans for our wrists. That should soon change, however, as GigaOM is now reporting that Google secretly acquired WIMM Labs in 2012, a company who developed an Android-based developer platform for wearable displays. WIMM's developer program apparently caught Google's attention since it allowed developers to create what it called "micro apps," which would in turn allow users to install real Android applications on the watch and not just the typical notifications that we are currently seeing on other smartwatches.
Last year WIMM Labs abruptly stopped sales of its WIMM One smartwatch, deleted its Twitter accounts and posted the following message on its website:
"During the summer of 2012, WIMM Labs entered into an exclusive, confidential relationship for our technology and ceased sales of the Developer Preview Kit.
We'd like to thank all of our developers for their interest and willingness to experiment with our platform and look forward to exciting advances in the wearable market."
After GigaOM reported the story, Google has decided not to keep things confidential anymore and has now confirmed that it acquired WIMM Labs last year. The site reports that WIMM's employees are working with the Android team at Google. It also points out that Google not only acquired a company that was working on building such an Android smartwatch platform, it was already created and it has the apps to prove it. Apps are the key to making any platform a success, and Google looks like it has a lead over its competitors.
There's no word on when we might see Google's smartwatch, but just like in the smartphone world, three of the biggest players (Samsung, Apple, and Google) are going to do whatever they can to entice you with features, apps, and designs.
