Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) are currently in a battle of dominance to capture the Smart watch market. Josh Lipton of CNBC reported about the story on “Squawk Alley”. Lipton started the show talking about the Apple’s big move to hire LVHM’s vice president for Tag Heuer sales ahead of their highly expected iWatch release.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) made the first move in this “war of wearables” by releasing two new smart watches through Google Play store. First of the two smart watches is the Samsung Gear Live which runs on Android Wear, is Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s new operating system for smart wearable devices. This watch can be voice controlled, with ‘OK Google’ to launch it and send a message and it will be sold at $199. The second device is the LG G-Watch, which will be sold at $229 and it is also powered by Android Wear.
Both these smartwatches share many functions and features and to make them work and need a connection with a Smartphone running on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Android 4.3 or higher. There are some differences between them, though. Samsung’s watch has a better screen and more sensors, whereas LG watch has a better battery life. Both watches feature Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) processors. James Bruce, Director of mobile marketing for ARM said that he is optimistic about the market for wearable’s, but consumers have to feel that they are having fun and fashionable, without which demand may not meet the expectations.
Lipton also talked about the huge expectations for these wearable’s. IDC estimation shows that the expectation is to ship 19 million watches in 2014, which is three times more than in 2013, which was 6 million. IDC has also estimated the shipments to surge to around 112 million by 2018.
Jon Steinberg, CEO of Daily Mail North America, also talked on the show regarding the smart watches. He said Samsung is the active online advertiser working with Buzzfeed. He feels that this new Samsung watch should actually be called as ‘Google Now’ watches, because the features in this watch are similar to ‘Google Now’ feature on Smartphones running on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s OS. This is also the main difference between the new Samsung watch and previous generations of Samsung watch.
“It is the Google Watch versus the Apple Watch”, Steinberg said.
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