Having got the better of Apple AAPL -3.19% in the race to be the first to release a smart watch, Samsung may already be speeding ahead to improve the product, post-launch.
Samsung is planning to release another version of its smart watch as soon as early-2014, according to a report by South Korea’s Digital Times citing an unnamed industry official. The new version of the smart watch will include GPS, a better battery life and will sync with other Android device.
When Samsung unveiled its first smart watch, called Samsung Gear, on Sept. 4, industry analysts criticized the device for its battery which lasted a little over one day, for lacking GPS and for only pairing with a single device, the new Galaxy Note 3. (Samsung has said the Gear will work with other other Galaxy phones at some point point in the future.)
Forbes contributor Larry Magid said in his early,hands-on review of the Gear, that the limited battery life was the device’s biggest let-down. “It’s one more thing to have to remember to charge up everyday and its charger is one more thing to have to take with you when traveling,” he said.
Samsung is known for pivoting quickly to respond to market change and developing consumer tastes, so the overall impression was that the Gear was as much an experiment as it was a commercial endeavor. And despite its drawbacks, the Gear will cost $299 when it launches in the U.S. this October , suggesting it may primarily entice early adopters to open their wallets.
As Samsung works on improving battery life, the real potential for the Gear and other smart watches may come from apps and services that can run on the device. The Gear will already host apps including eBay, Pocket (for saving and reading web content offline), RunKeeper, Path and messaging app Line. Samsung’s proprietary messaging service AppsChatOn will also work on the Gear.
If Samsung can continue to collect an array of appealing services for its next smartwatch, this along with the necessary hardware improvements could give the next device a better chance among mainstream consumers, and not just curious, early adopters.
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