Two new job listings at Google - “Vice President, Hardware Engineering, Wearables” and “Wearables Design Manager, Consumer Hardware” - set off a wave of speculation about the company’s smartwatch ambitions, The Verge reports after the initial sighting by Android Police.
The outlet reports that this development is anticipated after disappointing Wear OS smartwatch hardware by third-party makers.
“There are lots of clues you could put together that seem to add up to Google working on its own hardware for a smartwatch: this job, for one, along with Google’s overall strategy of making its own hardware as touchstone devices that teach the rest of the Android (and Chrome and Google Assistant) industry how to do it well.”
“There are lots of clues you could put together that seem to add up to Google working on its own hardware for a smartwatch: this job, for one, along with Google’s overall strategy of making its own hardware as touchstone devices that teach the rest of the Android (and Chrome and Google Assistant) industry how to do it well,” The Verge says.
When the outlet asked Google whether these positions were related to the making of a smartwatch, the tech giant declined to comment. The company is no stranger to the rumor mill, having had to formally dash hopes of a “Pixel Watch.”
“To think of a one-size-fits-all watch, I don’t think we’re there yet,” Miles Barr, Google’s director of engineering for Wear OS, said last August. “Our focus is on our partners for now.”
Other clues of wearable hardware coming out of Google are fish name codename reference in Android open-source code, typically indicative of Google hardware, in addition to the fact that the code in discussion appeared to refer to Wear OS. The Verge also mentions Google’s recent $40 million acquisition of wearable technology from Fossil as another potential clue.
Either way, The Verge concludes that no matter what hardware plans Google has in store, the VP of Hardware for Wearables will have their work cut out for them.