Your next Android Wear watch could be a TAG Heuer. Intel and Google are today announcing a partnership with the iconic watch brand that will result in a TAG-branded Swiss watch powered by Android Wear.
The announcement came at the start of Baselworld, the world-famous watch show in Basel, Switzerland where companies like TAG and Swatch are looking to retain market share. The partnership is very much from the same vein as Intel’s partnership with Fossil and Luxottica Group. Details about the watch are unavailable at press time and there is no indication that there is any product to speak of right now. So what does all this mean?
Intel clearly knows it needs help from top consumer brands to bring wearable products to market. TAG, part of the LVMH Group, is also looking at the Apple Watch as an oncoming threat. By creating a higher end smartwatch for luxury-loving Android users – an audience obviously underserved by the current Android Wear crop – Hauer, Intel, and Google can try to stake a claim in the smartwatch space.
“Swiss watchmaking and Silicon Valley is a marriage of technological innovation with watchmaking credibility. Our collaboration provides a rich host of synergies, forming a win-win partnership, and the potential for our three companies is enormous,” said LVMH Watch Group President Jean-Claude Biver.
These sorts of partnerships won’t be isolated events. An expensive Android Wear watch is actually a compelling product to some consumers (most notably, I suppose, douchebags) and once electronics manufacturers move from the cerebral to the emotional they will need all the help they can get. TAG, for its part, is a master of marketing and it should be interesting to see what they come up with.