25th June 2014
Google announces Android smartwatches

On June 25th 2014, Google announced the first smart watches powered by the Android Wear Operating System. The announcement took place at Google's I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

The devices were the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live.

Steffen Sorrell, from the Juniper Research consultancy, reacted as follows:

"The problem with smartwatches so far has been that the sector hasn't quite decided what it wants to be - is it a phone on your wrist or an accessory device? Once you introduce Android Wear, it will hopefully provide a more focused case for what the devices are capable of. And that's a direction that could invigorate the market."

LG announced that the G Watch would cost £159, and Samsung said the Gear Live would cost £169.

Related information:

• BBC News: Google reveals first Android Wear watches to go on sale
• The Guardian: Google launches smartwatch at annual developer conference

Images:

• Samsung Gear Live smartwatch
  Credit: Samsung. Images remain the copyright of the original copyright holder. Used under fair use policy for educational purposes only.

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