Google buys WIMM Labs to gear up for smartwatch wars

6:30 PM

Last summer smartwatch developer WIMM Labs announced that it had entered into an exclusive relationship with an unnamed company just before its website and social media accounts were promptly shut down. One year later, GigaOM has discovered that Google was in fact the mysterious buyer that scooped up WIMM Labs to begin work on its own wearable wrist tech. WIMM released the WIMM One, a developer-centric smartwatch in 2011.

The WIMM One ran on the Android operating system and also let developers create applications that they could upload to the Micro App Store, which is still online today. GigaOM also points out that by purchasing WIMM Labs, Google has not only acquired a smartwatch prototype, but an entire development platform that already runs on Android. Between the recent Samsung Galaxy Gear leaks and iWatch rumors, it really does look like 2014 could be the year of the smartwatch.

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