Android Wear Announced

Google is following the same pattern they set with the announcement and release of Android.  They're announcing the platform, the software, and the hardware partnerships now but the products will follow later.

Android Wear is a software extension of Android, the smart phone operating system, that will allow hardware companies to begin making Android Watches and/or other wearable gear.

Here is one write-up of this news:

http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/03/18/google-gets-wearable-tech-android-wear-launches-developer-preview-watches/?fromcat=all#!AyoQn

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Google today announced Android Wear, a project that extends the company’s mobile operating system to wearables. The company is startingwith watches, and has released a Developer Preview so app creators can tailor their existing notifications for watches powered by Android Wear.

Google has partnered with several consumer electronics manufacturers (including Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung), chip makers (Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek, and Qualcomm), as well as fashion brands (only the Fossil Group was named). The company says it will use these partners to launch watches powered by Android Wear later this year.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE**

ArsTechnica has easily the best write-up on this story.  Quite in-depth relative to any other I've seen.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/in-depth-with-android-wear-googles-quantum-leap-of-a-smartwatch-os/