A group of investors led by Juha Pinomaa, former President of Suunto and a former Nokia exec, has acquired the connected watch business of a company called Meta Watch, as well as related IP assets.
Joining Pinomaa as investors and key managers are Bill Geiser and David Rosales, who previously led the Watch Technology Division of Fossil, the now-former owner of Meta Watch.
Connected watches are nothing new, but Meta Watch has made a name for itself with its developer-friendly approach. Aiming to reinvent the wrist watch as a simple but powerful mobile accessory, the company’s platforms enable developers to extend the interfaces of a range of mobile devices and applications to their products.
That basically means the watch aims to complement smartphones rather than try and replace them. Says Pinomaa:
“Over the next 10 years billions of people will carry smart phones changing how consumers live and creating new opportunities and markets for connected watches and other wearable devices.”
According to the company, which will be based in Dallas, Texas, with an R&D center in Nokia’s hometown of Espoo, Finland, target markets and applications include messaging, notifications, social networking service updates, turn-by-turn directions, LBS alerts, sports performance feedback, music controls and more.
Meta Watch watches are slated to be available in the United States and Europe this month and will set you back around $200 – you can buy it here. Available styles are ‘analog digital’ (a hybrid, if you will) and entirely digital.