Wearables

Swarovski Smart Watch “for her” to be unveiled at Baselworld 2017

2017/01/04By Jerome Skalnik

CES 2017 kicked off yesterday with the usual frenzy of press releases and new products. Among the many companies holding events, Qualcomm announced the upcoming Snapdragon 835 mobile processor. It also teased that Swarovski will unveil an Android Wear-powered smartwatch at Baselworld 2017. The teaser video shown during the event reveals only that the Swarovski Smart Watch is designed “for her” and […]

Fitbit acquires assets from Pebble

2016/12/07By Jerome Skalnik

Fitbit today confirmed rumours that started to swirl last week that it will acquire some of Pebble’s assets. It announced that is acquiring “specific assets” that include key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development. As reported earlier, hardware is not part of the deal. “With basic wearables getting smarter and smartwatches adding health and fitness capabilities, we see […]

Pebble Time 2 and Core to be cancelled as Fitbit acquisition looms

2016/12/07By Jerome Skalnik

Rumours emerged last week that Fitbit was looking to acquire struggling smartwatch company Pebble. A new report yesterday shed new details. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg suggests that the buyout will focus on Pebble’s software assets. The deal reportedly includes job offers for about 40 percent of Pebble’s staff, mostly software engineers. Pebble staff in other roles, such as interface designer […]

Lenovo puts future Moto 360 smartwatch plans on hold

2016/12/02By Jerome Skalnik

Motorola yesterday confirmed that it will not launch new Moto 360 smartwatches to coincide with the arrival of Android Wear 2.0 in early 2017. Lenovo, which acquired Motorola, was among a number of smartwatch manufacturers that announced this fall that they would not launch additional smartwatches this year. It now appears that we will not see any Moto smartwatches in 2017 either. Shakil Barkat, head […]

Smartwatch shipments collapse in Q3 2016

2016/10/25By Jerome Skalnik

All is not well for the global smartwatch market. Year-over-year shipment figures dipped for the first time in the second quarter of the year. Things did not improve in Q3 as International Data Corporation (IDC) reported yesterday that the market experienced a “round of growing pains” with another year-over-year decline in shipment volumes. Volumes dropped 51.6% from a total of 5.6 million […]

HTC Halfbeak smartwatch revealed at last?

2016/10/10By Jerome Skalnik

The HTC smartwatch is the stuff legends are made of. Rumours of such a device first surfaced all the way back in 2014. It finally looked like HTC might unveil its first wearable earlier this year when HTC CEO Cher Wang boasted that it was working on something that would “turn the industry on its head.” Noted leakster Evan Blass weighed in […]

Android Wear 2.0 delayed to “early 2017”

2016/09/30By Jerome Skalnik

Google has delayed the launch of the latest version of its Android Wear wearables platform. When it was announced at Google I/O 2016 this summer, the company said that Android Wear 2.0 would be out sometime this fall. Google will instead extend the developer preview program into next year. We’ve gotten tons of great feedback from the developer community about Android Wear […]

No more Android Wear smartwatches from Huawei, LG and Motorola in 2016

2016/09/14By Jerome Skalnik

The only new Android Wear smartwatch to be announced at IFA 2016 was the ASUS ZenWatch 3. Other Android Wear partners such as Motorola and Sony notably did not announce new smartwatches. CNET has now learned that Huawei, LG and Motorola all have no plans to release new Android Wear smartwatches this year. Last year, all three announced new wearables at […]

Rogers files court injunction to block GLENTEL sale to Bell

BCE’s plan to acquire GLENTEL, a Canadian mobile products distributor, has hit a speed bump. Rogers Communications this week filed an injunction with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to block the CA$670 million deal. It claims that its agreement with GLENTEL requires that the distributor obtain approval from Rogers before it can proceed with the acquisition. GLENTEL today responded and […]

Tag Heuer Carrera Wearable 01 to be unveiled on November 9th

Tag Heuer announced at Baselworld 2015 that it would partner with Google and Intel for its first smartwatch. Company CEO Jean-Claude Biver yesterday told CNBC that the Tag Heuer Carrera Wearable 01 (based on the TAG Heuer Carrera – Heuer 01 pictured above) will be formally unveiled on November 9th in New York. The success of the Apple Watch is already having an effect […]

A closer look at the Rogers Vicinity rewards program

Introduction Have a look in your purse or wallet right now. Chances are that you have more than one loyalty card in there. You probably also have a few punch cards tracking your purchases as you work your way towards a discount or that free coffee or sandwich at your favourite local shop. For example, my own wallet holds five […]

Concept Sunday: Cancelled “value-tier” Moto 360 concept

Motorola this week unveiled its new Moto 360 Collection. Last year’s smartwatch has grown into a line consisting of three different models. Along with a new 46mm model, there is now a smaller 42mm model and a more rugged model, the Moto 360 Sport, geared at more active users. Under different circumstances, there might also have been a cheaper model geared […]

Discommon Goods Watch Wallet for your travels

It can sometimes be difficult to keep track of all of your important but small items when travelling. As if keeping track of essentials like your passport and credit cards was not enough, add a couple of watches (you’ve got to have the right watch for every occasion after all) and you may be wondering how best to carry everything in a convenient […]