We all remember the snazzy watches Swatch are known for years ago,well they have plans to come hit the smartwatch game.I did have one or two of these watches back in the say but they don’t seem popular nowadays,or else i have missed something…Personally i have not seen many about…but they are quite nice it must be said.
Recently they announced the Touch Zero which is by no means smart but its a step in the direction they want to go.
New Swatch Touch Zero One combines design & cool new Beach Volley functions for players and fans – Step Counter, Power Hits and Power Claps. Dig the fun, track the action & collect your reward… Beach Volleyball is played all over the world, on beaches and in stadiums filled with huge crowds stomping their feet and clapping their hands as the action kicks up thrills and chills. Swatch and Beach Volley go way back – and now there’s a new Swatch Touch that makes the game even more exciting! Swatch Touch Zero One takes the already popular Swatch Touch one step further, adding great new functions to pump up the excitement for both players and fans. It has all the Touch features that already make it so successful, from the curved touchscreen and built-in backlight to finger-tap and side-swipe access to six timing functions. On top of all that, Swatch Touch Zero One is a touchscreen Swatch with fingerfun access to multiple Beach Volley functions right on the Swatch, and tons more information when connected to the free Touch Zero One App. Swiss Made, it’s a Swatch, so there’s no need to charge it up every night—the standard Swatch battery lasts for months and months. Even before it’s hooked up to the App, three Beach Volley functions are right at your fingertips on the touchscreen display.
Swatch Group AG plans to start selling a smartwatch within the next three months, potentially pitting the Swiss maker of colorful plastic timepieces against the debut of the Apple Watch.
The device will communicate via a form of technology known as NFC and won’t have to be charged, Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek said in an interview. The Swatch smartwatch will also let consumers make mobile payments and work with Windows and Android software, he said.
Hayek is ready to go head-to-head with Apple Inc., which has scheduled its smartwatch introduction for April. The market for such timepieces, which enable phone or data communication, will probably reach about $10 billion in 2018, Citigroup Inc. analysts forecast last year, with half of the market coming from traditional watch wearers switching to the devices.
Swatch has decades of experience developing technology that might go into a smartwatch, such as long-lasting batteries so thin they’re bendable. The company’s Tissot brand has made watches with touch-screens since 1999 that now offer an altimeter, a compass, and sensors to record a diver’s descent.
Skeptic’s U-turn
Hayek has been skeptical about the smartwatch’s potential. Two years ago, he said that he didn’t think the smartwatch would be a “revolution” for the industry. He has repeatedly voiced concern that watch screens are too small for communicating and that such devices might need too much charging. Last year, he said Swatch won’t participate in a race to be first in developing the products because of consumer resistance. He once said Swatch’s luxury brands such as Blancpain are smartwatches because “they make you look smart.”
“Entrepreneurs are practical people, and they care more about being successful than being consistent,” said Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. “Hayek has always said they have relevant technology for a smartwatch — sensors, display, battery — and seems to be set to make the most if it. Better to have an option and a hand in this category than not to. Nobody can yet say how relevant smartwatches will be in the end.”
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