ZTE To Jump Into Smartwatch Market
It seems that every company is getting on board the smartwatch bandwagon these days. There are several on the market already of course, and offerings from industry behemoths such as Google and Apple appear to be just a matter of time at this point. Not to be left behind, China’s ZTE told the WSJ that it will have its own smartwatch hitting the market in the second quarter of 2014.
The smartwatch either doesn’t have a name yet or the company isn’t sharing it, but in any case the target market segment is mainstream as ZTE wants to offer it for less than the Samsung Galaxy Gear is going for. Even so, ZTE wants to offer a similar feature set as more expensive options.
ZTE's competition includes the Pebble Smartwatch (pictured) and Samsung Galaxy Gear (pictured above, inset)
One big catch for the time being is that ZTE’s smartwatch will only be compatible with ZTE phones, at first. This has also been Samsung’s strategy to this point, but ZTE is also interested in producing other smartwatches in the future that will work with essentially any Android-based device.
ZTE is also interested in other wearable technology such as Google Glass-like spectacles and even connected shoes, although there are no firm plans on those just yet.
The ZTE smartwatch will launch in China first, but ZTE said that eventually it’s looking to creep into the European and U.S. markets.
The smartwatch either doesn’t have a name yet or the company isn’t sharing it, but in any case the target market segment is mainstream as ZTE wants to offer it for less than the Samsung Galaxy Gear is going for. Even so, ZTE wants to offer a similar feature set as more expensive options.
ZTE's competition includes the Pebble Smartwatch (pictured) and Samsung Galaxy Gear (pictured above, inset)
One big catch for the time being is that ZTE’s smartwatch will only be compatible with ZTE phones, at first. This has also been Samsung’s strategy to this point, but ZTE is also interested in producing other smartwatches in the future that will work with essentially any Android-based device.
ZTE is also interested in other wearable technology such as Google Glass-like spectacles and even connected shoes, although there are no firm plans on those just yet.
The ZTE smartwatch will launch in China first, but ZTE said that eventually it’s looking to creep into the European and U.S. markets.
