Who Will Sell The Luxury Google Wear Device?

There are so many questions following Apple’s announcements on Tuesday Sept. 9th. A lot of these involve competitor reactions.

Here I would like to touch on who will sell the luxury Google Wear device?

We now know that Apple Watch is going to enter the luxury watch segment with its 18K gold bodies. What will the competition do?

Arguably the best candidate for a well designed and luxurious Google Wear device is the Moto 360 by Motorola (Lenovo). Unfortunately, the attention to detail did not seem to extend to the straps. It may be the most premium Google Wear device, but it clearly wasn’t designed with luxury in mind.

Then who will?

Will it be Samsung? They own the high-end segment of Android smartphones and are well positioned in that sense. The problem with Samsung is that it is hardly a luxury brand. Even the high-end smartphones that it ships have been constantly criticized for a cheap look-and-feel.

Will it be HTC? They have created some gorgeous looking smartphones, but as a brand, they are hardly luxury. The same can be said of LG.

Will it be Motorola? Well the Moto 360 was a nice try. The Moto X however has been a dismal failure.

I tend to think that no current Android smartphone maker is up to the task of creating a luxury watch. They simply don’t have the brand, and it’s very unlikely that they can achieve the detail to attention that is required.

It is more likely that some of the Swiss watch makers will team up with a tech company to deliver a smartwatch. It is very possible that the Apple Watch will eat into the luxury watch segment and steal customers away from the Swiss watch makers. To defend themselves, Swiss watch makers might enter smartwatches, and since the only platform they can use is Google Wear, that is what they will probably use.

I would hate to say “OK Google” to a Rolex watch though. That is so humiliating.