Hot on the heels of Fossil announcing that they are teaming up with Intel to develop a new smartwatch, similarly premium (but probably more premium) watch maker, TAG Heuer has announced that they are also developing a wearable of their own. Jean-Claude Biver of the LVMH group that owns TAG Heuer said that such a TAG Heuer smartwatch “must not copy the Apple Watch” and that “we cannot afford to just follow in somebody else’s footsteps” – I assume Biver also meant to say “and also not copy the countless Android smartwatches too”, but I’m sure everyone’s just worried about the Apple Watch.
The TAG Heuer smartwatch faces some pretty stiff competition, not only from the Apple Watch, but a relatively large number of Android Wear-based smartwatches (and a Tizen-based one) that were announced at IFA 2014 earlier this month. Wearables from Sony, ASUS, LG, Motorola and Samsung already occupy what most people would already consider the “premium” priced range in the smartwatch market, so we can only imagine given TAG Heuer’s history that any wearables they develop will be generally unaffordable. Still, it’s interesting to see smartwatches start to become more mainstream and we look forward to seeing something when TAG Heuer possibly has something ready at the Basel watch fair next Spring.
What do you think about TAG Heuer joining the smartwatch race? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Reuters via Phones Review
