It was confirmed that Intel is making a comeback at the smartwatch market. But instead of building its own brand, it was announced that the Santa Clara company is teaming up with one of the well-known athletic shoe makers, New Balance. The two company believes that they can revive the life of a good and reliable smartwatch. "The utility of the smartwatch becomes more narrow, and it's more obvious to users why they need a smartwatch," said Ethan Fassett, head of product at Basis, an Intel company.
Intel And New Balance Team Up For Smartwatch's New Beginning
Last year, many negative things happened in the wearable tech industry such as the death of Pebble, a decrease in Apple Watch sales and key Android Wear partners deciding to back away. Despite the almost end of the life of smartwatch market in 2016, Intel still believes that people are not yet witnessing the last end of the gadget. Fassett has confirmed that Intel will reunite with Tag Heuer for the Swiss watchmaker's subsequent luxury smartwatch.
Also, Fassett is taking the lead on the company's new goal of making smartwatches and its partnership with New Balance. Together, the two companies are teaming up for the RunIQ Android Wear watch and it is believed that after a few rocky years, there will be explicit signs for better on the smartwatch industry. Just this Thursday, at the New Balance’s flagship store on Market Street in San Francisco, the RunIQ Android Wear went on sale at $299 this week.
"The market is clearly in a transitional phase," Fassett told Wearable. "The simple problem with smartwatches initially was jack of all trades and master of none. It didn't really signal to the average consumer its key value. People found them to be gimmicky." Intel's partnership with New Balance continues to grow since it will be a bigger push for a non-tech brand to connect with tech devices, and it looks like that the RunIQ smartwatch is the start for the sports company.
Meet RunIQ, The Survival For Smartwatch Industry
According to San Francisco Chronicle, RunIQ will still operates even if the user isn’t carrying a smartphone. It can also incorporate technology from the San Francisco social network Strava which caters to avid runners and cyclists. It is said to be an optional matching Bluetooth headset, which is made by Jabra and costs $109.
“Our philosophy is not to build an Intel-branded device, but to work with iconic partners," said Jerry Bautista, general manager of Intel’s New Business Group. The RunIQ Smartwatch was designed by New Balance from the outside of the fitness tracker. On the other hand, Intel designed the inside hardware of it, including antennas for GPS and greater place detection, dual-core processor, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection, memory storage for both music and software integration with Google’s Android mobile operating system that able to connect to a smartphone.
New Balance is just new to the consumer electronics industry since they are more focused on releasing non-tech wearables. The RunIQ smartwatch starts far behind established health and fitness tracking leaders such as Fitbit, Garmin and Suunto. The unveiling of this new product may not be able to catch up as soon as its release. But Fassett said that it could play a focal role in the long-term success of Android Wear smartwatches.
