Swatch to take on Apple Watch & Android Wear with custom OS

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 33
    FatmanFatman Posts: 513member
    I say go for it! The competition will be good - the same way google, samsung and Amazon keep Apple from becoming complacent. 
  • Reply 22 of 33
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member
    chadbag said:
    tundraboy said:
    Well they have to try something otherwise it's fizzle up and die for sure.  Don't know how good any Swiss outfit is in software development though.

    Ever hear of a place called ETH? (In Zürich)
    Honestly, I haven't but I just looked at its Wikipedia page.  I have no doubt it's a world class university but that's a little different from setting up a commercial software development team or shop that will go head to head with Apple.  I've read about software dev shops in the UK, Germany, Finland, Israel, Korea, Japan and a few other countries but not Switzerland.  Then again, I don't claim any knowledge about the matter at all.
  • Reply 23 of 33
    em_teem_te Posts: 40member
    sflocal said:
    What's going to happen is that they will try, and it will fail.  I'll bet the the CEO is just hoping for someone to swoop in and buy the company so he can get his golden parachute and walk away.

    Swatch knows its sinking in quicksand, and it's neck-high at the moment.  They business model is obsolete, and with no viable plan B, they will disappear or become irrelevant.
    Why would he need to? The Swatch Group had net sales of 8 billion in 2015. They still own famous brands like Omega, Longines, Glashütte Original, Tissot, etc.
  • Reply 24 of 33
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    The Swatch Group will be paving its own road into the smartwatch space with a custom operating system, …… it plans to launch towards the end of 2018.

    2018… 2018???

    At which point they will be nearly two decades behind Apple's ecosystem development. I wish them the best of luck. They will need it.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 33
    leighrleighr Posts: 253member
    The Apple Watch, for instance, won't last more than a day on a single charge, 
    I have to say, I easily get 3 days between charges of my Apple Watch, with what I would term "normal use".
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 26 of 33
    Not a bad looking (s)watch.  
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 27 of 33
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Let see, a watch company wants to make a computer in a watch and they think they can do this better than a computer company. However, Apple did not try and make a watch, or Swiss movement, they just put a monitoring and communication device on someone's wrist. This is completely difference challenge for a watch company, they have to learn things they have no real experience with. Apple did not need to learn how to make a Swiss movement of a watch.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 33
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    I suspect that, in a few years, we will be seeing $29.95 smart watches hanging in bubble wrap at the checkout counter at the Dollar Store.

    Yes, they'll be junk.  But people will buy them.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 33
    Fatman said:
    I say go for it! The competition will be good - the same way google, samsung and Amazon keep Apple from becoming complacent. 
    Yes, in the same way "competition" from Apple and Microsoft keep Xerox PARC from becoming "complacent."
  • Reply 30 of 33
    maestro64 said:
    Let see, a watch company wants to make a computer in a watch and they think they can do this better than a computer company. However, Apple did not try and make a watch, or Swiss movement, they just put a monitoring and communication device on someone's wrist. This is completely difference challenge for a watch company, they have to learn things they have no real experience with. Apple did not need to learn how to make a Swiss movement of a watch.
    No, I don't think that's what they want to do at all.  A watch company wants to improve their product by adapting (arguably a couple years too slowly) to changing technology. 

    Watches are primarily fashion items.  No one NEEDS a watch nowadays, but millions of people wear one because they like to.  Swatch just wants to make compelling products to stay relevant on the wrist.  

    They are in this for the long haul.  I doubt they have a goal of being the number 1 "smart watch" company.  Apple is obviously a threat, but only in the same way that Rolex and other high-end fashion companies are a threat.  So, no, they don't have to make smart watches that are better that the Apple watch.  They just need to have a product that is compelling enough that people will want to own them and wear them instead of an Apple watch.  That sounds contradictory, but it isn't.  If an Apple watch can do A, B, C, D, and E and a Swatch can only do A and B, but looks better -- and the user can easily do C, D, and E with their also-ever-present phone, then Swatch can make the sale.

    Also, the Switch watch industry has a very long time horizon, so they likely aren't expecting to come out to nowhere and blow away the Apple Watch.  They are probably asking "what does the watch market look like 5-10 year from now."  I expect that 20 years from now Swiss watches will still be a desirable (and profitable) fashion item.
  • Reply 31 of 33
    leighr said:
    The Apple Watch, for instance, won't last more than a day on a single charge, 
    I have to say, I easily get 3 days between charges of my Apple Watch, with what I would term "normal use".
    I had to charge my series 0 every night.

    My series 2 easily gets 2 days and a night with 25% left. And that's with quite a bit of use. Very impressed with the improvements to series 2
  • Reply 32 of 33
    markbyrnmarkbyrn Posts: 661member
    Ironic that Swatch was born out of the need to compete with cheap Asian quartz watches that decimated the Swiss watch industry.   
    watto_cobra
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