Android, Apple Smartwatches are Coming: Are You Ready?

Android and Apple smartwatches are going to flood the market over the next year.
Android, Apple Smartwatches are Coming: Are You Ready?
A photo of the Pebble smartwatch. Several Android and Apple smartwatches are going to be released over the next year. (Photo courtesy Pebble.)
9/2/2013
Updated:
9/2/2013

The smartwatch avalanche is coming, and we have one question for you: are you ready?

If the rumors have it right, Samsung will launch its Galaxy Gear Mega smartwatch running the Android operating system later this week at the IFA event. Google apparently isn’t that far behind with its own device; the search giant confirmed last week that it had acquired Android smartwatch maker WIMM.

Meanwhile, Apple’s rumored iWatch is reportedly going to be released in mid- or late- 2014, though with Apple’s historic secrecy, it will be hard to confirm any rumors about said device. The Guardian reports that Apple’s suppliers are expected to produce 63 million iWatches over the course of a year.

And of course, there are other players planning to enter the smartwatch market: LG and a few other Korean manufacturers are reportedly entering the fray over the next year as well.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to talk about smartwatches without mentioning the Pebble smartwatch, which set a crowdfunding record in April 2012 when it scored $10.26 million in sales on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. While the Pebble runs its own operating system, it can interact with Android and Apple devices, and can run custom apps built for it.

So the smartwatch revolution is here, and more devices are coming soon. Are you ready?