Since its introduction in 2016, the Apple Watch has remained exclusive to the iPhone, while some competing smartwatches, even with Android Wear, still receive support for Apple smartphones. That is, the iPhone is still a monopolist when it comes to Apple Watch.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that this situation could have changed at one point, but the project was “turned around” at the last minute.
It was codenamed Project Fennel. A separate team of Apple engineers worked on integrating the Apple Watch with Android smartphones. It was supposed to help promote the smartwatch in markets where Apple had a small share.
Mr. Gurman did not say how this support was realized. There are still a lot of variables here, because the watch has support for a large number of both Apple’s own and third-party apps, and the organization of notifications would also have a number of limitations. And unfortunately, the article doesn’t say how such compatibility was planned.
Project Fennel was almost ready for release when the management scrapped the idea. The reason for the rejection of such integration was iPhone sales, which could potentially fall. “By giving the watch (Apple Watch – ed.) to Android, you would have “diluted” its value for the iPhone,” the source comments.
The Apple Watch is still the best deal in its category, though not the cheapest, but still perhaps the best deal. And this should be an additional incentive to switch from Android to iPhone, and even more so to deter existing users from doing the opposite.
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