Google quietly bought smartwatch maker WIMM last year – Nexus watch almost certain
Rumors of a Google-made “Nexus smartwatch” have been buzzing around the rumor mill for awhile now. It was back in March a source from The Financial Times allegedly confirmed the existence of such a smartwatch, one that could be released by end of this year.
You may remember back in August of 2011 a small company by the name of WIMM tried making a name for itself with a modular smartwatch product called the WIMM One. Barely a year later, it was during the summer of last year that WIMM mysteriously stopped selling the pre-release developer kit, announcing publicly that they had entered an “exclusive, private relationship” with an unnamed company. It’s only now we’re learning who that company was…
Originally speculated that it could have been Apple who bought up WIMM, but in a scoop picked up by GigaOM, it appears that “private relationship” was with none other than our friends at Google. Apparently a few of the original WIMM team actually stayed on to help Google with the project, with some of their LinkedIn profiles updated to reflect the change in employment. As an added bonus of the acquisition, Google now owns the domain: smartwatch.com.
We mentioned in a previous post that the smartwatch market is about to explode. With OEM’s like Samsung, Sony, LG, and Motorola making their own smartwatches based on Google’s mobile operating system, it only makes sense that Google steps in and shows manufacturer’s how apps and services should work on the small — very small — screen. While it’s still too early to say, we’re expecting a UI similar to what we’ve already seen on Glass (picture above) with a heavy focus on quick access to Google Now, and acting a smartphone companion — not a replacement.
With Google now entering into the fray, will you jump on offerings from other OEMs, or wait around for Google to release their “Nexus” smartwatch?