Samsung Will Create Special 'Services' For Android Wear

Android Wear has three devices right now: The Moto 360, the LG G Watch, and Samsung Gear Live. Two of those, the G Watch and Moto 360, have been working with Android Wear as reference devices. The Gear Live is a "late" comer to Android Wear, and Samsung will duplicate their Android smartphone and tablet efforts on the wearable, it seems.

Speaking to CNET, Samsung executives said they'd like to give the Gear Live unique features. Though they can't put a skin on it, like they did with TouchWiz or their newer Magazine UX, they will work from the ground up to implement proprietary features.

Christopher Belter, Director of Marketing for Samsung's US mobile division, said "Android Wear is 100 percent built around Google services today on Day 1. I don't know what the time frame is, but I guess it would be our goal to build, like we do on our phones, some of our own services for the Wear environment."

Like Tizen, which Samsung uses as their wearable platform, the company's Android Wear efforts will likely work solely with their smartphones. Samsung isn't yet saying what they'll work on, but with a smartwatch already out of the gate, it could indicate they're serious about Android Wear — or are they?

This is an interesting choice for Samsung (and us) in one respect: they recently switched their Galaxy Gear smartwatch form Android to Tizen to work better with their platform and devices. For Samsung doubters, this is a familiar story — they'll either create a sub-sect within Android Wear like they have done with TouchWiz, or pull it even closer with Tizen. Either way, it ties you into the Samsung ecosystem, and that's their goal — just like any other OEM.

Source: CNET