So HP has finally decided to throw your hat into the smartwatch ring eh? It’s not surprising though considering the amount of attention being showered the device. So what are they doing to stand out from the rest of the entrants?
Well HP is teaming up with designer Michale Bastian, a name that more known in the fashion circles for his own brand and his work on the GANT brand. Considering that a watch needs to look good, this sounds like it’s shaping up to a good start for HP. The collaboration is actually between not only HP and Michael Bastian, but also online fashion e-tailing site Gilt.com. In fact the collaboration between the designer and HP was a result of Gilt reaching out to Bastian, after the former was approached by the tech company to discuss the design of a smartwatch by a fashion designer. As a result, the HP smartwatch will be a collaborative effort between the three parties with HP obviously handling the tech part, Michael Bastian the design, and Gilt the marketing.
So far, there’s scant details on the watch itself. However there are already renders and sketches on what it’ll look like once it comes out. From what we’ve seen, the watch has a 44 mm stainless steel case, a design that appears to be circular, and 3 bands with different finishes that are swappable. It’ll be compatible with both iOS and Android definitely but what platform is it going to run on? That particular detail hasn’t been confirmed, though it might likely be Android Wear.
The launch of the watch is targeted sometime this third quarter and will be exclusively sold on Gilt.com. There’s no mention if HP has plans for it to go beyond the e-tail site at later stages and neither has the price been revealed. So we’ll just have to sit tight and wait for more details to come.
Source: Fashionista and Tech Times
