In what can only be described as a self - own , Google hasreleaseda YouTube Music app for the Apple Watch … before making an equivalent version for its own smartwatch chopine , Wear OS .
This is attain for a number of reasons . For starters , Google ’s been working on rolling out a act of integrations for YouTube Music . Earlier this week , YouTube Music on Android TV got somemajor upgrade . Back in August , Google also made it so you couldplay personal playlistsfrom YouTube Music via Google Assistant . As you might expect , in both these cases , Google prioritized its own platforms first . But that ’s not the case with Wear OS .
Usually , Big Tech incline to agitate new features and update to its own program first . For example , Android users are the first to get a more robust set of third - party integration with Google Assistant . iOS users will have to expect . And Apple is , well , Apple . You have it off it ’s going to prioritize its own ecosystem first — to inferno with everyone else . That ’s why Google pushing a YouTube Music app for the Apple Watch first is a pretty big departure .
Image: Google
https://gizmodo.com/googles-planned-updates-for-wear-os-are-underwhelming-1844748316
But it ’s not extremely surprising given the state of the smartwatch marketplace . On the one hired man , you have the Apple Watch . It ’s by far the most popular smartwatch , with somewhere between 50 - 55 % of the market , calculate onwhichresearchagencyis doing the maths . This often comes as surprisal , considering74 % of phonesglobally run on Android and the Apple Watch only supports Io . In the first quarter of 2020 , smartwatch sales actuallysaw a 20 % increment in sales , with Apple , Samsung , and Garmin benefitting the most . Wear OS … not so much . consort to9to5 Google , even though more Wear atomic number 76 watches were sell in 2020 than in 2019 , its market portion actually shed from 23.7 % to 22.6 % during Q1 this class .
However , what this really means is that iOS users more often than not will just pick the Apple Watch because it ’s really the best smartwatch option for them . The same ca n’t be said for Android users . Smartwatch options for Android are much more split , and for years , there was no tangible Apple Watch alternative that Android users could sincerely rally behind . Samsung came closest , and its modish flagship , theGalaxy Watch 3 , is probably the one Android smartwatch that can go toe - to - toe with Apple . The thing is , it does n’t run Wear OS . It runs Samsung ’s proprietary OS , Tizen , and it saves its best features for Samsung exploiter , leave non - Samsung users at a disadvantage .
This means that , more often than not , Android users are split between Samsung and more physical fitness - center smartwatches that also pass their own proprietary OS , including choice from Garmin and Fitbit . In fact , the only other Android - friendly flagship smartwatch that can compete with the Apple Watch is the Fitbit Sense , which , again , does n’t endure on Wear OS .
While 2019 was moderately lackluster in term of new flagship smartwatches , 2020 was a wholly different level . Samsung follow out strong with its Galaxy Watch 3 . Fitbit also seemingly pull a miracle out of nowhere with the Sense , Versa 3 , and Inspire 2 . Both companies wangle to catch up to Apple and win U.S. Food and Drug Administration headroom for clinical cardiogram features . Garmin let go theForerunner 745 , and Polar is revamp itsVantage line and put out a pretty expectant entry - level smartwatch with theUnite . tire out OS , by comparison , completely shat the bed .
Despite Qualcomm introducinga new Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip , which is have a bun in the oven to improve the Wear OS watch experience , there ’s only one smartwatch powered by it that ’s useable this vacation season : Mobvoi ’s TicWatch Pro 3 . Fossil , which is the most spectacular maker of Wear O watches , is launching a slightly cheesy version of its Gen 5 watch lineup powered by the last - gen processor , the Snapdragon Wear 3100 . This mean the early we ’re likely to see substantial promotion in Wear OS lookout is spring of next year . The updates Google rolled out for Wear OS this fallwere underwhelming , focusing more on streamline the user interface than enabling more of the advanced features we ’ve come to await in flagship smartwatches .
It ’s not that Google does n’t see the note value in wearables . The company’sacquisition of Fitbitis trial impression of that , as is all the sass service it pays to “ ambient computer science . ” It ’s just that any real improvement to Wear oculus sinister will take clock time . Hell , it might even just be easier at this point to junk it and start anew , should regulators approve the Fitbit deal .
In the meantime , it appear that even Google knows it has little to acquire by putting Wear OS first . That ’s sad , because it just mean that Android users , particularly those without Samsung phones , have the fewest selection when it comes to a great smartwatch . Unfortunately , it does n’t wait like that ’s changing anytime soon .
GoogleSmartwatcheswearables
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