Search engine giant Google has officially bought undisclosed Intellectual Property (IP) related to smartwatch technology from Fossil Group Inc.
The deal between Google and Fossil is said to be $40 million. As part of the transaction, a portion of latter's Research and Development (R&D) team currently supporting the aforementioned transferring IP will be shifting base to the Mountain View campus.
However, Fossil also confirms that it is retaining more than 200 R&D team members to focus on innovation and future product development.
Fossil has been a long partner of Google offering top-end smartwatches with the Wear OS (previously Android Wear) in several global markets and now, with the new arrangement, speculations are rife that the long-rumoured Pixel Watch may finally breaks covers and eventually offer a good fight to the ever growing Apple Watch's reach in the world.
It can be noted that this announcement is similar Google's arrangements with HTC for making Pixel phones. Previously, Google used to offer free Android mobile OS to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to make phones. It created a vast portfolio of devices from budget to high-end phones for consumers and this apparently helped Android to become biggest mobile OS ecosystem occupying more than 85 percent of the total. But, sadly the devices were never able to achieve optimum performance compared to Apple iPhones.
The differentiating factor was, Apple had total control of the hardware and software and on the other hand, Android phone makers were depended on several partners for OS, CPU, camera and other components.
While others are continuing the same strategy, Google stepped in to offer pure Android flagship phones with the Pixel series and now, they are the best camera mobiles in the market and also give a good fight to the Apple iPhones. Even its Home smart speakers one of the best in the business, in the respective category.
Now, with the recent acquisition of the smartwatch patents from Fossil, Google has set the eyes on Apple Watch, which is currently the numero uno smart wearable brand in the world. The latter is gaining appeal among young and old with each passing day, for its unmatched fitness and health tracking system.
The recently launched Watch Series 4 is the world's first off-the-counter purchasable smart wearable to boast ECG (Electrocardiogram) app that can detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) and Irregular Rhythm of the heart.
Also, previous generation Watch Series too have advanced heartbeat monitor sensor and offer irregular rhythm notifications, provided the device has upgraded to the latest watchOS 5.1.2.
There is one advantage for Google, whenever it plans to bring the Wear OS-powered Pixel Watch, as it will be able to support iOS-based iPhones, while the Apple Watch doesn't support Android phones. Only
As of now, we have no information on whether Google has plans to bring its own Pixel Watch this year or not, but it is certain to bring one sooner than later.
