Emporio Armani is taking preorders for its Connected line of smartwatches, due to ship globally in early September. The $295-$395 watches are built on Google's Wear OS platform and incorporate a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC. Features include Google Assistant voice integration, heart-rate tracking, water resistance, built-in GPS and mobile payment capability via near-field communications, Armani said. The watches are compatible with Android and iOS phones, said the brand.
Fossil watches that depend on a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone for timekeeping are best classified as smartwatches based on the radio transceiver, said Customs and Border Protection in a newly posted April 30 ruling. Fossil lawyers asked CBP in October 2016 for a “binding ruling” on the classification of Fossil Q hybrid smartwatches under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, said the agency. CBP responded that the Fossil Q lacks mechanical or quartz watch movements and instead uses its Bluetooth connection to set the time. Before a Bluetooth connection is made, "the watch hands are completely inactive,” it said. “Not only are they unmoving, but they cannot be actuated or manually adjusted by the user." Once the watch is paired via Bluetooth to a mobile device, the time is automatically synchronized, CBP said. "From that point forward, the Fossil Q autonomously keeps the time of that zone throughout any interruptions to the connection with the mobile application," it said. "However, even following initial synchronization, the time cannot be adjusted manually by the user. Instead, any adjustments to the watch hands -- based, for example, on a change in time zone -- are orchestrated automatically by the mobile application." Friday, the company didn’t comment.
Fitbit announced global availability of the $199 Versa smartwatch, launched in the U.S. in March (see 1803130049), and teased features coming next month in a software update. New May Fitbit features include “quick replies,” which lets Android users respond to messages with a choice of five custom replies up to 60 characters, and women's health tracking for menstrual cycles, it said Monday.
IDC sees global smartwatch shipments increasing at a 17.9 percent compound annual growth rate in the next five years, to 84.1 million units in 2022 from 43.6 million in 2018, it said in a Tuesday report. "Consumers are finally starting to understand and demand the utility of a smartwatch," said IDC. Fitness leads other smartwatch uses “by a mile but mobile payments and messaging are starting to catch on,” it said. “The addition of cellular connectivity is also starting to resonate with early adopters and looking ahead the emergence of new use cases like music streaming or additional health sensors will make cellular connectivity pivotal to the success of the smartwatch." Apple shipped more than half the world’s smartwatches in 2017, said IDC. Though it expects that Apple “will maintain its lead in this category,” competing products from Fitbit, Garmin and Wear OS vendors “will gain traction over time,” it said.
Apple shipped 2.4 million cellular versions of the Series 3 Watch worldwide last year, said a Tuesday Canalys report. Total Series 3 shipments equaled just under 9 million for 2017, comprising nearly half of all Apple watch shipments. In Q4, Apple watch shipments rose 32 percent to 8 million, a record number of shipments in a quarter for any wearables vendor, said the report. “Apple has won the wearables game,” said analyst Jason Low. Despite other vendors’ attempts at innovative designs such as rotating bezels and circular screens, “Apple has pulled far ahead as it continues to focus on its core iPhone user base,” said Low. Recent updates, including GymKit and Apple Heart Study, offer “compelling use cases, encouraging users to spend more on accessories,” Low said. The cellular-enabled Series 3 watches saw strong demand in the U.S., Japan and Australia, where major operators stocked the device for the holiday season, said analyst Vincent Thielke, but limited operator selection in the U.K., Germany and France stifled growth potential. Apple’s expansion into Singapore and Hong Kong this quarter, in time for Chinese New Year, “is a good move,” said Thielke.
Hybrid smartwatches, such as Fossil Q and Nokia Steel, will comprise more than half of the smartwatch market in 2022, said a Tuesday Juniper Research report. Nearly 80 million hybrid smartwatches will ship by 2022, up 460 percent from 14 million last year, and digital display smartwatches such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit Ionic, are projected to jump by 160 percent. Slowing growth for digital display smartwatches has driven manufacturers including Motorola, Huawei and Sony to leave the space, Juniper said. Remaining smartwatch makers are pivoting toward specific use cases, which is having an impact on design and distribution through specialized retailers, said analyst James Moar. Despite interest in hybrids, Juniper expects individual players to ship fewer than 2 million devices annually. An exception is Fossil, which has blanketed the market with display and hybrid smartwatches throughout its brands, and is forecast to ship over 6 million smartwatches annually by 2020, Juniper said. The report also said different connectivity technologies are becoming more prevalent in smartwatches, with GPS expected to be present in nearly half of all smartwatches by 2022. Penetration of near-field communications will be minor because NFC devices are "locked into specific ecosystems."
Utah residents can now track state bills by app on an Apple Watch, the state announced Wednesday. Apple Watch was added to Bill Watch, which helps Utah citizens keep track of legislative issues by topic, legislator’s name or bill number. Utah was the first state to create a tracking service for legislation via mobile devices, and the Apple Watch support makes it "so easy to follow legislation,” said Utah Chief Technology Officer David Fletcher.
Smartwatches will be among the most “coveted” devices this holiday season, Annette Zimmermann, Gartner vice president-research, blogged Wednesday. “Some users have held back on purchasing an Apple Watch until now as the use case has not seemed compelling enough,” said Zimmermann. But the cellular connectivity on the Apple Watch Series 3 gives the smartwatch “new use cases, such as music streaming during a workout at the gym, or leaving your iPhone at home, that will inevitably spur demand and boost sales,” she said. Gartner expects 41.5 million smartwatches will be sold globally in 2017, she said. “Other consumer electronics brands such as Huawei, LG, Samsung and Lenovo will also contribute to this, but to date the Apple Watch remains the most successful smartwatch in the market.”
Several brands of smartwatches for children have privacy flaws, said a Wednesday letter to the FTC by privacy and child advocacy groups. Amazon sells several of the brands that the Norwegian Consumer Council found hackers could easily hijack, the letter said. FTC officials told the groups it would give the complaint "serious consideration," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, among signers including the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union and Public Citizen.
Two new models “tailored specifically to the female customer” will mark Fossil’s launch of its “smallest hybrid” smartwatches to date when they debut Oct. 22 in Fossil stores and at fossil.com, the company said in a Tuesday announcement. The smaller form factors of the Q Neely and the Q Jacqueline, priced $155-$175, “offer customers the most discreet and fashion-forward options for smartwatches yet,” said the company. They “blend analog design with smart connectivity,” allowing users to “discreetly” get incoming smartphone notifications with vibrations and watch hand animations and track fitness goals, it said.