Zurich - Swatch Group said it’s developing an alternative
to the iOS and Android operating systems for smartwatches as Switzerland’s
largest maker of timepieces vies with Silicon Valley for control of consumers’
wrists.
The first product using the Swiss-made system will be a
Tissot smartwatch to be introduced at the end of 2018, Swatch CEO Nick Hayek
said in an interview Thursday. The technology will also be usable in other
small household products, he added.
Switzerland’s four-century-old watch industry has been
adjusting to new competition since Apple Inc. entered its territory with the
Apple Watch in 2015. Lower-end brands have been the most affected, and Hayek,
who first said he was sceptical about smartwatches, has been adding new
electronic functions into Swatch’s own less expensive brands such as Tissot and
its namesake timepieces. This month, Swatch said it developed the world’s
smallest Bluetooth chip for use in watches and small objects.
Read also: Luxury contagion hits Swatch
“There’s a possibility for wearables to develop as a
consumer product, but you have to miniaturize and have an independent operating
system,” Hayek said, speaking in Biel, Switzerland, at the headquarters of
Omega, another of the 18 brands that Swatch produces.
Swatch is willing to supply third parties with the
operating system, which has been developed with the Swiss Centre for
Electronics and Microtechnology, a university specialized in miniaturization,
Hayek said. The company has received about 100 requests for more information, with
half coming from smaller Silicon Valley companies that don’t want to be
dependent on Android and iOS, he added.
Separately, Swatch forecast a rebound in US and European
markets as it published its annual report.