– Technology and fashion –
With the big phone companies piling in alongside smaller smartwatch specialists such as Pebble, fashion brands are doing their bit to try and design a more desirable product.
Several Swiss watchmakers and fashion brands such as Guess have unveiled designs, while jeweller Swarovski has encrusted smartwatches with its crystals for a deluxe look.
“The vast majority of smartwatches on the market are bulky and look more like a piece of technology than a fashion item,” however, said Kevin Curran, a telecom specialist at the University of Ulster.
“That’s going to change as companies focus more on design and making devices that are more discreet.”
With their new circular watches, LG and Huawei positioned themselves at the luxury end of the market, differentiating themselves from the square-faced design revealed in previews by Apple.
“We set out to create smartwatches that could contend for a spot on your wrist with a luxury mechanical watch,” said LG’s head for Britain and Ireland, Andrew Coughlin.
The launches in Barcelona risk being overshadowed by Apple’s release, however.
The Californian company is reportedly planning to ship five million of its Apple Watch in the first batch.
“Everyone is watching to see what happens with that. Apple is the massive elephant in the room. We are estimating they could sell 20 million watches this year,” said Wood.
That would dwarf the hundreds of thousands of other types of smartwatches that experts estimate have been sold so far.
