Google picks up the team behind an Alexa-powered smartwatch for Android Wear
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Google has acquired the company and team behind CoWatch‘s software, an Android-based smartwatch OS that differed from most in that it also offered Amazon Alexa access on your wrist. Cronologics announced on its site that it will be joining Google, working on Android Wear, after having developed its Android-based OS for the CoWatch hardware.
It’s a time of consolidation for the wearable space, which basically looks like people and startups scrambling for the life rafts as the smartwatch category slowly implodes. The team behind Cronologics was actually composed of a number of ex-Googlers, too, so it’s a bit of a homecoming for the talent.
Android Wear also has an uncertain future, however; at least one major OEM partner is taking a step back from the platform, as Motorola announced that it would not be releasing a follow-up to its Moto 360 smartwatch anytime soon. The Moto 360 was one of the most popular smartwatches available, and consistently led the crop of Android Wear devices in analyst sales estimates of the category overall.
Cronologics noted on its blog that it will “help grow the portfolio of watches powered by Android Wear” as part of Google, and will also be “pushing the frontier of wearable technology and smartwatches with Android Wear 2.0 and beyond.”
Rumors suggest Google could be gearing up to release its own Pixel-branded smartwatches early next year, so perhaps this has to do with those efforts.
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