Huawei unveiled the Huawei Watch back at Mobile World Congress in March. Unfortunately missing from the announcement were availability and pricing details except for an unspecific “around the middle of the year” time frame. Spring forward to today and pre-orders for the Huawei Watch just kicked off in a number of countries late last month but still without any specific availability dates. Now comes word that it may not launch until September at the earliest.
According to a report by WantChinaTimes.com, He Gang who heads up Huawei’s mobile division said that a launch in China was delayed until at least September “due to incompatibility issues with Android Wear.”
The Android Wear incompatibility that Gang refers to is likely one due to the fact that many Google services are not available in China due to the strained relations between Google and the Chinese government. This has in turn forced Huawei to build its own services to replace those that are not blocked by the Great Firewall. Gang explained that the new services will be optimized for China, suggesting that Huawei is not looking to bring such customizations to other markets.
What is not as clear is whether the delay will impact the launch of the Huawei Watch outside of China. Given that it is already on pre-order in a number of markets and that China did not figure in the first launch wave, it’s likely that launch plans outside of China will not be affected by this development.
Source : WantChinaTimes.com