On Tuesday, Google and Samsung announced the creation of a joint platform for smartwatches and other connected wearable devices, in an initiative aimed at enhancing their competitive position against Apple, which has long led this market. The partnership was unveiled at Google's annual developer conference held in California, indicating that Samsung will use Google's Wear OS for its upcoming Galaxy smartwatches instead of its Tizen operating system.
Combining Wear and Tizen into One Platform
Google Wear project director, Bjorn Killborn, stated, "We will combine the best of Wear and Tizen into one platform." He added, "By working together, we were able to leverage each other's strengths and merge them into a solution that provides faster performance, longer battery life, and more applications."
A New Platform to Compete with Apple
The new platform will create an ecosystem that can more directly compete with Apple, which has long dominated the connected watch market with a one-third market share. The announcement of the partnership comes shortly after Google's acquisition of Fitbit, a company specializing in connected fitness equipment.
Google revealed a series of improvements and updates to various systems during its developer conference, which was held online for the second consecutive year due to the pandemic, including enhancements to Google Maps, its search engine, and its photo management service. The company announced a beta version of Android 12 to operate on approximately 3 billion mobile phones worldwide, characterized by new privacy control tools and personalization features.
