Swatch smartwatch: no charging necessary, with payment function

May 23, 2020

According to the news magazine Bloomberg, Swatch Group AG will launch a smartwatch within the next three months. It is said to be compatible with Android and Windows devices, does not need to be charged and is also suitable for cashless payments.

In an interview with Bloomberg, chief executive officer Nick Hayek revealed only a few or no specific details about the planned smartwatch – but what he did best should arouse the interest of many fans of wearables. The Swatch Smartwatch should be able to communicate via the Internet, among other things, without having to be charged.

So is the gadget operated with a conventional watch battery? On the other hand, this would mean that the range of functions of the wearable is rather modest – such as with the Withings Activité. It is a fitness tracker with a traditional timepiece design that is powered by battery. And so it should last a whole year until the energy cell has to be replaced.

However, further details that Hayek told Bloomberg do not seem to indicate a smart health watch with a limited range of functions. For example, users of the watch should also be able to pay with the gadget. He didn't say a word about exactly how the payment system works. But the fact that the wearable can connect to the Internet also contradicts the assumption of a watch battery as a drive. If Bluetooth is not meant here, the power consumption of a corresponding radio module should be too high.

Bloomberg sees the announcement of the Swatch smartwatch as an attack on Apple's watch in the next three months – which, incidentally, may not be called iWatch because Swatch had intervened in advance of this term. In addition, there is only talk of Android and Windows compatibility so far. As it currently looks, iOS users are left out. A swipe in the direction of Apple?

Interesting side note to the Swatch smartwatch story: Two years ago, Hayek said that he saw no real potential in the slowly emerging smart watches. In mid-2014, however, Swatch announced a fitness watch with a touch display. And maybe the current Bloomberg article is about this same device, but with a larger range of functions than originally planned. In its report, however, the news magazine speaks explicitly of a smartwatch and not of a fitness wearable.

Source: Bloomberg (via)

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