(Image source: Fossil)
Google and Fossil Group have entered into an agreement where the former will acquire US$40 million intellectual property (IP) in relation to a current smartwatch technology, which is under development by the Fossil Group.
This arrangement may indicate Google’s interest in challenging the dominance of Apple Watch, with the former launching its own brand of wearables built around Fossil’s smartwatch technology. Late last year, Google put down rumors of a slated Pixel Watch; however, the company hasn’t been completely stagnant in the wearables market as it remodeled Android Wear to Wear OS. Google's smartwatch OS updated features include:-
- an improved notification system
- Google Assistant integration
- enhanced user privacy by limiting app access to hardware sensors
- new gestures for menu navigation.
Besides acquiring IP rights for Fossil’s smartwatch technology, “a portion of Fossil Group’s research and development (R&D) team currently supporting the transferring IP will join Google.” The acquisition is expected to be finalized by the end of this month.
(Source: Fossil Group, Developers Blog)
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