Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Swatch is planning on launching its own smartwatch operating system into the ever-expanding market - with its 'Swiss OS' platform set for an early 2019 release. That's according to a spokesperson for the company as quoted by Wareable. Swatch is said to be planning on setting the OS free on a Tissot-branded smartwatch and the Swiss watch specialist has stated Swiss OS will have fewer software updates than rivals such as Google's Wear OS, and will boast "Swiss vault"-grade protection of user data. Swatch has previous, sort of, in the smartwatch space. Back in 2015 it launched the Touch Zero One; a beach volleyball focused connected timepiece (yes, seriously) and later that year it revealed the Swatch Bellamy; an NFC connected smartwatch, that went on sale in China and boasted contactless Visa payments for wearers. Swatch has been promising a 'proper' smartwatch for some time now. The company’s CEO Nick Hayek described the Apple Watch as an "interesting toy" and has has some interesting things to say about the tech-genre in the past... February 2014: "I have always said it's an opportunity for us, but we are not a consumer electronics company. We are not going to transform and put the mobile phone on the wrist. Let the others do it. Samsung did it, Sony did it, everybody does it." July 2014: “We will integrate fitness features in the Swatch Touch by 2015. The device will remain a watch, but it will include commonly used fitness features to monitor your body. We already have all the know-how, we do not need a partnership.” August 2014: "All the big technology firms want to work with us and I don't rule out that we are or could be collaborating in some areas. But we can also do many things on our own." May 2015: "Whoever brings a battery for a smartwatch to the market that you don't need to charge for six months has a competitive advantage. We're working intensively on this problem with our research group Belenos and battery producer Renata. Next year we will come to the market with a revolutionary battery, not only for watches but also for automobiles." March 2015: "We are the world champions of integrating smart functions into a watch. We don't want to produce a mini mobile phone on your wrist. Others can do that." The timing of the potential new contender in the smartwatch space is interesting. On the hardware side, Qualcomm has just revealed its Snapdragon 3100 processor - a dedicated smartwatch SoC and, as well as Google's Wear OS and Apple's watchOS, Samsung, Fitbit and Huawei also have high profile smartwatches on the market rocking their own proprietary systems. It will be interesting to see where Swatch and its platform fit in.
Watchmaker Swatch said it will launch its own Tissot smartwatch platform in 2019 via a Swiss OS-branded device. Swatch said its operating system would have fewer updates than those of rivals such as Google, and promised a "Swiss vault-grade" level of user data protection. The company has previously flirted with the smartwatch concept with the Touch Zero One and Swatch Bellamy, both launched in 2015.