Introduction to wearables platforms with a focus on smartwatch operating systems.

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The Fragmented World of
Wearable Operating Systems
Gil Bouhnick, February 2015

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• Designed to run on wearables
• Requires pairing with Android 4.3+
• Partially available as open source
• Includes Google Now (closed source)
• High battery consumption is an issue
Android Wear by Google

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Android Wear – Technical Details
Smartwatches running android wear will be able to pair with all
android smartphones running Android 4.3 or later OS.
Android Wear supports both rectangle and rounded screens.
There are already thousands of apps supporting Android Wear
notifications but less apps that actually provide advanced
functionality from the watch itself.

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Android Wear – Leading Manufacturers
Over 720,000 Android Wear devices shipped in 2014 (15% Market share)
Samsung Sony ASUS Motorola LG
Moto 360 G WatchZenWatchSmartwatch 3Gear

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• Open source operating system
• Paired only with a few Samsung smartphones
• Designed to run on “everything”:
• Smartphones, cars, wearables, cameras, printers
• Capable of running HTML5 apps “natively”
• Low footprint allows long battery life
Tizen for Wearables by Samsung
Samsung Gear S

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Tizen for Wearables – Technical Details
Tizen OS is developed by Intel, Vodafone, Orange, Samsung.
Tizen for wearable OS is a light derivative of Tizen OS and is led by
Samsung.
Tizen for Wearables can run standalone apps (without any
connection to a host app on a smartphone), integrated apps and
linked apps.
Apps are written in HTML5 (html, css, and javascript).
There are over 1,000 apps for Tizen for Wearables.

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Tizen - Devices
Smartphones, tablets, cars, cameras, washing machines, wearables
Smart TV Washing Machine Camera Smartwatch
Gear 2

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• Pebble OS is a custom version of FreeRTOS – a
real-time OS for embedded devices
• Can be paired with iOS and Android
• Provides integrated notifications as well as
activity tracking
• Low footprint allows long battery life
Pebble OS by Pebble Technology Corp.

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Pebble OS – More Details
The first smartwatch to shift 1 Million units.
There are over 6,000 apps and watch faces for Pebble.
Recently, the OS added support for Android Wear notifications
which means Android Wear apps able to push notifications to the
watch will work with Pebbles.

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Pebble OS - Devices
Smartwatches only
Pebble SteelPebble Watch

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• Originally created by Palm as a mobile
operating system for smartphones
• Now used by LG for smart devices
such as televisions and wearables
• Can be used as a standalone (with SIM) or
be paired with Android devices
WebOS by LG

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WebOS - Devices
Smartphones, tablets, washing machines, wearables
Smart TV Tablet Smartwatch
LG Watch Urbane LTEHP TouchPad

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• Requires pairing with iOS 8.2+
• Based on a subset of Apple iOS
• Estimated release date: April 2015
Watch OS by Apple

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• Can be paired with iOS, Android,
Windows, and Windows Phone.
• Focuses on fitness & health
• Does not have an OS
• Runs on Microsoft’s wearable architecture
Band by Microsoft

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• Web-based open source
• Designed for low-cost wearables
and “things”
• Planned to be paired with all
smartphones: Android, iOS,
Windows Phone and FireFox OS.
Firefox OS for Wearables by Mozilla

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Fitbit’s activity trackers are not
running an operating system
Fitbit Garmin
Garmin smartwatches run an
open platform called Connect IQ

17. Smartwatch Market
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Smartwatch Market Share (2013/14)
Source: Smartwatch Group (http://www.smartwatchgroup.com/top-10-smartwatch-companies-sales-2014/)
2013 2014

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Top 10 Smartwatch Companies - 2014
Company Headquarter Name of smartwatch Market share (%) Year-to-year growth
Samsung South Korea Gear line 23 +25%
Lenovo/Motorola China Moto 360 10 new entrant
LG South Korea Lifeband Touch, LG G Watch (R) 7 new entrant
Pebble US Pebble Watch, Pebble Steel 7 +102%
Garmin Switzerland Vivofit, Vivosmart, Vivoactive and others 7 +47%
Sony Japan Smartwatch 2/3, Core, SmartBand Talk 6 +66%
Fitbit US Force, Charge 6 +22%
Withings France Pulse Ox, Activité 4 new entrant
Polar Finland Loop, RC3, V800, M400 2 +400%
Asus Taiwan ZenWatch 2 new entrant
Other 79 companies 26
Source: Smartwatch Group (http://www.smartwatchgroup.com/top-10-smartwatch-companies-sales-2014/)

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Top 10 Smartwatch Companies - 2014
Source: Statista (http://www.statista.com/chart/3290/samsung-leads-the-smartwatch-market/)

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Smart Bands Market (Fitness & Watches)
Source: Canalys
• 4.6 million smart wearable bands
shipped in 2014
• Only 720,000 based on Android Wear
(15%)
• 1 million Pebble smartwatches

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Created by: Gil Bouhnick, February 2015
Blog: www.mobilespoon.net
Twitter: @MobileSpoon