Swatch develops its own OS for smartwatches

Swatch Group AG develops its own operating system for smartwatches. At the end of 2018, the first smart watch based on the economical software should appear under the Tissot brand name of Swatch.

The alternative to watchOS and Android Wear will work economically, is safe and can connect small objects and wearables, claims Nick Hayek, the CEO of the Swiss watchmaker. “Wearables have the potential to grow as consumer products, but you have to shrink and have your own operating system,” he said.

With the reduction he refers to the bluetooth chip developed by Swatch itself. This chip, developed together with EM Microelectronic, would be the smallest Bluetooth chip to date, Swatch claimed at the beginning of this month. The chip has a surface of 5mm2 and consists of 5 million transistors.

Swatch takes a different course than competitor LVMH in keeping the development in its own hands. That company announced the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 on Tuesday. The $1600 smartwatch runs Android Wear 2.0. The luxury wearable contains an Intel SOC and supports GPS and NFC. It is the second smartwatch that LVMH developed together with Google and Intel.

TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45