Anyone trying to find out information about the upcoming — and much anticipated — Moto 360 Android Wear smartwatch is usually met with a pretty stony response from Motorola; in fact, they’ve remained so tight-lipped about it, we could be forgiven for thinking they’ve taken up a healthy diet of lemons.
Everyone wants to know when they’re coming .. even our emeritus editor Buzz Moody wants one yesterday .. and while it seems our friends across the pond will probably get them sooner than us, there’s been no real announcement of when we might be able to get our hands on them locally. Motorola’s product manager Danny Adamopoulos told Good Gear Guide that the Moto 360 will be here, and in stores, before Christmas.
Motorola executives reportedly consider that carriers are the best candidates to sell the Moto 360, on account of their staff’s ability to speak to the products features. There is some logic in this, and regardless, this is the path that Samsung and LG have (largely) taken with their respective Android Wear products so far; they’re sold primarily as companions to smartphones (which is exactly what they are), and so selling them along smartphones makes much sense. Telstra, Optus and Vodafone are all offering varieties of smart watches at the moment, and the LG G Watch is starting to appear in stores as well.
Will we see the Moto 360 as a companion product for an upcoming Motorola smartphone release? There’s obviously some appeal to such an approach; the G Watch arrived in Australia via the Play Store first, but it’s being sold alongside the G3 in stores, so Motorola might go down the same path there.
One thing is for certain though. The Moto 360 will sell quite probably more units than the G Watch or the Samsung Gear Live; it’s a far more appealing unit, wouldn’t look so out of place under the cuff of a business shirt, and it features things that you’ve told us you want — wireless charging, water resistance, all in a beautiful design.
