Fossil is dropping smartwatches to focus on less-smart watches, leaving a big hole in the Wear OS ecosystem.
The company announced its departure from the smartwatch market over the weekend, confirming to The Verge that it would keep existing watches updated “for the next few years.” Fossil’s executive vice president and CEO Jeff Boyer told The Verge:
“As the smartwatch landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years, we have made the strategic decision to exit the smartwatch business. Fossil Group is redirecting resources to support our core strength and the core segments of our business that continue to provide strong growth opportunities for us: designing and distributing exciting traditional watches, jewelry, and leather goods under our own as well as licensed brand names.”
The news shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Fossil’s last smartwatch, the Fossil Gen 6, launched in 2021. The company was expected to announce a Gen 7 with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon W5 Plus platform last year, but the announcement never materialized.
Fossil was also absent from CES this year despite being a staple of the tradeshow in past years.
The company will be missed in the smartwatch space. Fossil has been putting out Wear OS watches for years, even in some of the software’s worst years. And with the future of Wear OS looking brighter thanks to renewed interest from Google, it’s a real bummer to see Fossil step away.
Source: The Verge
