Android Wear Gone From Google Store, Only In-House Hardware

It isn't the writing on the wall for Android Wear, but it certainly becomes a bit harder to be one. Android Wear already has a problem in terms of adoption and popularity and Google just made it even harder to buy them from a single place. The LG Watch Sport and Watch Style, the last two Android Wear smartwatches on the Google Store, suddenly disappeared. But it's not because Google is abandoning the platform but only because Google Store will now only cater to devices "Made by Google".

Android Wear, as far as hardware goes, is in a rather odd state at the moment. Almost all smartphone manufacturers who were part of the first batches of smartwatch have all but given up on it. And Google's removal of the last two pieces from its own Store doesn't exactly inspire much confidence.

Of course, it isn't the case that Google is slowly abandoning Android Wear. After all, it did just announce an Oreo-based Android Wear preview. Majority of Android Wear smartwatches today come from, ironically, traditional watch makers as well as fashion brands. In a way, it seems to reinforce the notion of a smartwatch being a fashion and lifestyle product (a watch that happens to be smart) instead of an accessory for your phone the way a headset is (a watch for your smartphone).

Google's removal of the LG smartwatches, which was apparently already known internally for some time, is simply a part of the Google Store's new direction. It will now only offer products made by Google, with the exception of Nest (which Google owns) and some accessories. This interestingly takes it one step closer to becoming more like Apple and, consequently, somewhat distancing itself from its own OEM partners.

VIA: Android Police