Speaking at this year’s SXSW conference, Google (GOOG)’s SVP of Android, Chrome & Apps Sundar Pichai said the search giant will release an Android-based software development kit [SDK] that will make it easier for companies to create wearable devices that run on Google’ OS.
By focusing on wearables at a platform level, Google is clearly aiming at making its technology accessible to a wide variety of wearable devices.
“When we say wearables we think about it much more broadly,” Pichai said. “It’s for partners and developers to figure out. It could be a jacket … with sensors — I don’t know”, reported Re/code.
The SDK will be available in two weeks, added Pichai, without hinting at whether Google will be building its own smart watch, as many expect.
The news comes ahead of Google’s I/O developer’s conference in June, where the Mountain View, Calif.-based company is expected to unveil its own smart watch developed in collaboration with LG electronics. According to Forbes’ Amit Chowdhry, “the LG smart-watch is believed to have always-on access to Google Now so that you can speak commands any time and receive feedback right away.”
Google’s latest push into wearable technology comes as Samsung, the largest maker of Android smartphones and the world’s top smartphone maker, switched to a new OS for its latest wearable devices. Samsung’s Gear 2 smartwatches run on Tizen’s open-sourced OS, a rival mobile software platform created by a consortium led by the Korean electronics manufacturer, Intel (INTC) and a group of telecom operators.
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