Tag: Samsung

Android Wear 2.0 is here. The big question, however, is if anybody really cares about Google's second attempt to win over smartwatch customers. By Google standards, the Wear 2.0 launch was surprisingly low key. No fancy presentations. No keynotes. No live singers. And certainly no daredevil like stunts featuring skydivers and...

Apple is selling more smartwaches than anyone. By far. According to Strategy Analytics, Tim Cook and team shipped some 5.1 million Apple Watches in Q4 of 2016. That equates to about 63% of the overall smartwatch market. Think Steph Curry level of dominance. Samsung, the next closest competitor, moved 1.3 million...

Brands in crisis are nothing new. Volkswagen and its fuel emissions scam is easily the most significant in recent memory. That cost the company billions, and, as of today, is still being resolved. Then there was Audi. In the 1980's, the German automaker faced a different kind of crisis: consumers claimed...

Perspective, it's an an interesting thing. By all accounts Pebble's third Kickstarter campaign -- for two updated Pebble smartwatches and an Android-powered fitness tracker aimed at runners -- is a smashing success: 66,673 backers $12,779,843 pledged Not too shabby. In fact the result ranks it as third highest ever Kickstarter. As a long-time Pebble...

Being open is both a blessing and a curse. One the plus side, others can run hog wild. In the case of Google's Android operating system that means manufacturers can build handsets to their heart's content. Large. Small. Cheap. Premium. They can run near stock Android (Moto X Pure) or come...

Google is putting the finishing touches on its first major update to Android Wear, the smartwatch operating system that debuted over two years ago. Wear 2.0 is expected to ship later this year, and, along with it, I'm expecting will see a bevy of new watches running it. There's a...

Pebble is pouring it on today. First, the big announcement this morning. The Redwood City start-up unveiled three new wearables. Follow-ups to the original Pebbles, called the Pebble 2 ($99 USD via Kickstarter) and Pebble Time 2 ($179), and, perhaps most interestingly, a screen-less fitness tracker called Pebble Core ($69). The...

"Hey gang, it's time to write the next chapter in wearables." Pebble continues to out-innovate its rivals. It's much larger rivals; the Apples, Googles, and Samsungs. Take heed, today the Redwood City-based (so long expensive Palo Alto office) start-up announced not one, not two, but three -- count 'em -- new...

"Our biggest platform update yet." Well, how's that for amazing response time?! Yesterday, I lamented the need for a reboot of Google's smartwatch operating system Wear. And Apple's WatchOS. And Samsung's Tizen. And... on and on. Save for Pebble's OS. That one's a keeper, even if the company's long-term viability is a...

Some are saying smartwatch sales, and the overall wearable market, have grown at a decent clip over the past twelve months. Fitbit reported 25% year-over-year growth. Xiaomi (a surprise to be sure) at 41%. Garmin 27%. Overall, shipments increased about 67% y/y. I'm admittedly a smartwatch nerd (ask my wife). But at...