14 DAY TRIAL // Google is out shopping once again, and one of the goodies the company brings home this time is Fossil smartwatch technology that could eventually help it build the eagerly-anticipated Pixel Watch.
The search giant will pay no less than $40 million for the technology and a group from the R&D team, which will join the company as part of the deal.
The intellectual property being sold to Google is believed to include secret technology that hasn’t been announced yet and which could help the Mountain View-based firm innovate in the smartwatch industry should it decide to launch its own device.
Greg McKelvey, Fossil’s executive vice president of chief strategy and digital officer, confirmed for Wareable that the technology sold to Google is a “new product innovation that’s not yet hit the market.” No specifics were provided on this tech.
The Pixel Watch project
Google has always been more involved in the software side of its wearable project, though people with knowledge with the matter said the company at least explored the idea of launching a Pixel Watch in the fall of 2018 together with the Pixel 3 series of phones.
Rumors in this regard have even revealed that Google discussed a possible collaboration with a series of manufacturers, though it’s not clear if Fossil was one of them or not.
However, this deal would give it a big advantage in the smartwatch industry, especially as it’s being speculated that the secret Fossil technology sold to Google could be related to health monitoring. This is an area that several companies are investing in, including rival Apple whose Apple Watch can now help detect heart diseases with a built-in EKG sensor.
Fossil will continue to create its own Wear OS smartwatches too, according to the company, though no specifics were shared as to when the next model could see daylight.
“We’ve built and advanced a technology that has the potential to improve upon our existing platform of smartwatches. Together with Google, our innovation partner, we’ll continue to unlock growth in wearables,” McKelvey said.
A potential Pixel Watch could go live, if the project is indeed on the table, in the fall of 2019 when Google is projected to announce the new-generation Pixel phones.