Google's Buy of Fossil IP Shows It's 'Serious' About Wear OS Platform, Says NPD
Google’s buy of smartwatch IP rights from Fossil (see 1901170049) could lay the groundwork for the eventual launch of a Google-branded Pixel smartwatch, blogged NPD analyst Weston Henderek last week. The move shows Google "is finally getting serious about the…
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development of its Wear OS platform after seeing its share of the smartwatch market fall below 25 percent,” Henderek said. Fossil’s $260 million purchase of Misfit in 2015 (see 1511200053) gave Fossil the IP and engineering chops to roll out a spate of smartwatches and hybrid watches under its various brands, and now Fossil is the No. 1 Wear OS-based smartwatch maker in the U.S. market, he said. Calling it a “near certainty” that Google will integrate the Fossil technology into the broader Wear OS platform for the benefit of all of its partners, Henderek called that a welcome move for the ecosystem, “which has been floundering outside of Fossil.” The analyst blamed issues that have prevented Wear OS-based smartwatch vendors from mounting a competitive attack on Apple and Samsung on Google’s sluggishness updating the platform with new features, functionality and use cases. While Google hopes to strengthen the platform through the Fossil IP and technology purchase and bring new players into its ecosystem, “if the platform continues to struggle, the acquisition of the Fossil IP could help pave the way for Google to enter the smartwatch market on its own with a Pixel branded smartwatch.” A Google spokesperson last week wouldn’t comment on that possibility, saying the companies weren’t providing additional information beyond what was in the news release. Google’s buy of Fossil smartwatch IP “is a win for the entire Wear OS ecosystem,” said Henderek, saying Google is “finally showing greater interest in investing in its Wear OS platform in the face of dwindling market share.” Existing and potential Wear OS vendors are “still likely to be skeptical of Google’s commitment to the space in the short term until they can see if this announcement really does accelerate the development of Wear OS,” the analyst said, which could “lead Google to ratchet up its wearable tech investments even further to accelerate the pace of the Wear OS platform development even more aggressively.” A Google-branded Pixel Watch, if one does materialize, likely wouldn’t launch until late 2019 or early 2020, he said.