Android Wear has exactly been the rocket ship of success Google was no doubt banking on when it was launched four years ago this week.
After a slow start, the company issued a 2.0 refresh of the wearable operating system in early 2017 — but the update was fairly minimal and didn’t appear to move the needle. A few months after the new version was announced, Tizen overtook Wear in global market share, courtesy of Samsung’s adoption of the open operating system.
Perhaps Wear needs a new coat of paint — or at the very least, a new name. It’s getting the latter today. Google announced via blog post that Android Wear is now Wear OS. Or, more accurately, Wear OS by Google.
The news comes ahead of BaselWorld, next week’s big watch and jewelry show in Switzerland. For now, the change doesn’t appear to involve much more than the rename, though the company may be saving additional details for the big show.
“We’re announcing a new name that better reflects our technology, vision, and most important of all—the people who wear our watches,” Wear OS Director of Product, Dennis Troper said in the post. “We’re now Wear OS by Google, a wearables operating system for everyone.”
Watching making conglomerate Fossil Group appears to be behind the spirit of the rebrand. “In 2017, Fossil Group nearly doubled its wearables business to more than $300 million, including 20 percent of watch sales in Q4,” the company’s Chief Strategy and Digital Officer, Greg McKelvey said in a statement provided to TechCrunch. “And we expect to see continued growth in the category. Many of our smartwatch customers are iOS users, so we are confident in and eager to see the added benefits that both Android and iOS phone users globally will experience as Wear OS by Google rolls out in 2018.”
The new name will be rolling out to the app and watch over the course of the next few weeks, according to the company.
