Having succeeded at making Android the most common platform for tablets and mobile devices versus cult favorite iOS, Google is now looking towards the next mobile tech frontier—wearables—for expansion of its platform.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP Android, Chrome and Apps, took center-stage at SXSW to compare the evolution of smartphones to that of wearable devices, indicating that Google would release a software development kit in the next two weeks for developers to integrate Android into apps for wearables.
"We'll lay out a vision for developers as to how we'll see this market working," Pichai said, according to The Verge. "We want to develop a set of common protocols by which they can work together, they need a mesh layer and they need a data layer by which they can all come together."
With the goal being to migrate Android to a multi-screen world, buzz is getting louder around Google's rumored partnership with LG to create a smartwatch, which some expect to be revealed during Google's I/O conference in June. The OS is based on Google’s Now voice assistant and search feature, both drivers of the core functions of Google Glass.
But while smartwatches may be the first wearable device rage, Google has set its sights on a robust range of offerings such as a “smart jacket” with sensors.
“When we think of wearables, we think of it as a platform,” said Pichai. “We see a world of sensors... Sensors can be small and powerful, and gather a lot of information that can be useful for users. We want to build the right APIs for this world of sensors.”
Talk moderator and entrepreneurial investor John Battelle pushed for details of Google’s Android licensing program, which has stringent requirements for third-party developers, but Pichai defended the platform.
“Android is one of the most open systems I’ve ever seen,” countered Pichai. “What makes Android great is it’s literally designed from the ground up to be customised in a very powerful way…If you do a licensing arrangement, we do require our services to be installed, but it’s not exclusive—you can preload any other services you want.”
The openness of Android's platform will determine just how far it will be applied to this new category of devices, much like how Samsung is using the Tizen OS in its updated line of smartwatches and fitness band.
Source: http://www.brandchannel.com
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