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TAG Heuer, a maker of luxury watches, has decided to slightly change the price and the launch schedule for its smartwatch, which it co-developed with Intel Corp. and Google. The company intends to demo the timepiece on the 9th of November, which is a tad later than expected. TAG Heuer also decided to hike the price of the product. The head of the company believes that Intel’s hardware and Google’s software will help the watch to offer leading-edge functionality.
The luxurious smartwatch co-developed by TAG Heuer, Intel and Google will be based on the Intel Quark system-on-chip and Google Android Wear operating system. The product is expected to integrate a proprietary pattern matching accelerator, Bluetooth Low Energy, 6-axis combo sensor with accelerometer and gyroscope and other necessary hardware. The chronograph will be assembled in Switzerland using high-quality materials, but will not contain any mechanical movements. One of the key advantages the timepiece will have when compared to Apple’s Watch will be battery time of around 40 hours.
The connected timepiece from TAG Heuer will retail for $1800, according to the head of the company. Previously the company planned to sell the product for $1400. The maker of luxury watches hopes that superior hardware will help the upcoming product and its successors to stand out among rivals. However, TAG Heuer believes that it will not necessarily compete against Apple.
“We should not chase Apple, we should chase the Swiss watch industry,” said Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive officer of TAG Heuer, in an interview with CNBC. “Chasing Apple would be ridiculous. We do not want to compete with them. On the technical side… If you have Intel for the microprocessor, or the hardware, and on the other hand you have Google Android Wear for the software… Is it possible to have better partners?! No! We have the best possible partners, which will enable us to always be up-to-date.
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KitGuru Says: It looks like TAG Heuer will actually start to sell its connected luxury timepiece this year. However, the price of the device will be higher than expected for an unknown reason. What remains to be seen is how TAG Heuer will exactly compete against its rivals among the Swiss watch makers, if they use Intel Quark and Google Android as well?.
