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Facebook Developing Cellular Smart Watch sans Smartphone
The Information reports Facebook is building a smartwatch to sell next year that will let wearers send messages using Facebook’s services and also offer health and fitness features, according people with direct knowledge of the device. The foray into smartwatches would inch the company toward CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aim of controlling the next computing platforms after smartphones. In recent years, the social network has expanded into selling consumer hardware, introducing Oculus virtual reality headsets and its Portal lineup of video-calling devices for the home. But it has not yet entered the smartwatch market popularized by companies like Apple, Huawei and Fitbit, which is now owned by Google. The wrist device is expected to work via a cellular connection, without needing a smartphone. Facebook additionally plans to allow the device to connect to the services or hardware of health and fitness companies, such as Peloton Interactive, the maker of internet-connected exercise bikes. Given its spotty track record with user privacy, Facebook faces the same scrutiny, which befell Google when it announced the purchase of Fitbit.
The watch would run on an open-source version of Google’s Android software, similar to Facebook’s existing hardware products, though Facebook is also working to build its own operating system for future hardware. Assuming Facebook releases the first version by next year, it plans to follow up with a second-generation version of the watch as soon as 2023, one person briefed on the timeline said. Facebook is expected to sell the watch near the cost to produce it, similar to its approach with the Oculus Quest headset, which retails for $299 before tax. Apple’s latest version of its Apple Watch has a starting price of $400, while Fitbit smartwatches start at $150.
With the planned smartwatch, Facebook hopes to emphasize features that utilize its social networking prowess, such as allowing users to track their workouts with friends or communicate with their trainer. The approach could be similar to that of companies such as Strava, an app that lets runners and cyclists track their workouts and compare performance with others. Its messaging capabilities are expected to focus on quick interactions with people that would otherwise be done with a smartphone. Exactly how people will interact with the device couldn’t be learned but existing devices feature microphones to allow for voice commands.
Facebook executives see the strategy as essential to lessening the company’s dependence on Apple and Google, which power the vast majority of the software on mobile phones. The introduction of a Facebook smartwatch would open another front in a growing hardware battle among the biggest U.S. tech companies. Apple and Xiaomi held ~50% share of the 100m unit smartwatch market in 2020.
The Information reports Facebook is building a smartwatch to sell next year that will let wearers send messages using Facebook’s services and also offer health and fitness features, according people with direct knowledge of the device. The foray into smartwatches would inch the company toward CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aim of controlling the next computing platforms after smartphones. In recent years, the social network has expanded into selling consumer hardware, introducing Oculus virtual reality headsets and its Portal lineup of video-calling devices for the home. But it has not yet entered the smartwatch market popularized by companies like Apple, Huawei and Fitbit, which is now owned by Google. The wrist device is expected to work via a cellular connection, without needing a smartphone. Facebook additionally plans to allow the device to connect to the services or hardware of health and fitness companies, such as Peloton Interactive, the maker of internet-connected exercise bikes. Given its spotty track record with user privacy, Facebook faces the same scrutiny, which befell Google when it announced the purchase of Fitbit.
The watch would run on an open-source version of Google’s Android software, similar to Facebook’s existing hardware products, though Facebook is also working to build its own operating system for future hardware. Assuming Facebook releases the first version by next year, it plans to follow up with a second-generation version of the watch as soon as 2023, one person briefed on the timeline said. Facebook is expected to sell the watch near the cost to produce it, similar to its approach with the Oculus Quest headset, which retails for $299 before tax. Apple’s latest version of its Apple Watch has a starting price of $400, while Fitbit smartwatches start at $150.
With the planned smartwatch, Facebook hopes to emphasize features that utilize its social networking prowess, such as allowing users to track their workouts with friends or communicate with their trainer. The approach could be similar to that of companies such as Strava, an app that lets runners and cyclists track their workouts and compare performance with others. Its messaging capabilities are expected to focus on quick interactions with people that would otherwise be done with a smartphone. Exactly how people will interact with the device couldn’t be learned but existing devices feature microphones to allow for voice commands.
Facebook executives see the strategy as essential to lessening the company’s dependence on Apple and Google, which power the vast majority of the software on mobile phones. The introduction of a Facebook smartwatch would open another front in a growing hardware battle among the biggest U.S. tech companies. Apple and Xiaomi held ~50% share of the 100m unit smartwatch market in 2020.
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