Huawei and LG clamber aboard smartwatch bandwagon
Electronics giants LG and Huawei are following in the footsteps of Apple with the launch of rival smartwach designs designed to tempt Android users to dive into the new ecosystem.
LG will release both basic and high-end versions of its traditionally styled watch, the latter of which incorporates a 4G chip and advanced operating system for sending and receiving calls and texts without the need for a smartphone. Huawei meanwhile is seeking to lure consumers with a larger display device.
Forrester analyst Julie Ask commented: "The activation button on the back of the phone is super comfortable. We are finally moving beyond bigger, shinier, faster, more mega pixel phones. Consumer convenience matters.
"Both phone and watch play to our research on glanceable mobile moments - a subset of micro moments. Apps are overkill for most of what we need. Nearly half of consumers are tired of pulling phone from pocket for simple tasks or retrieval of information."
Fellow analyst Thomas Husson added: "Consumers - specifically in the Western World - may not have expected a great smartwatch from Huawei. However, Huawei's new Android-powered smartwatch looks great,"
"Following Huawei's success in the mid-to-high end smartphones, the main challenge and key success factor for Huawei is to establish its transformative brand in the new connected world."
Uptake of smartwatches has been underwhelming thus far with just 720,000 devices shipped in 2014, despite a blaze of publicity, although this figure is expected to rise substantially in 2015.