Apple was going to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android: why it didn’t happen

Apple Watch compatible with Android? What kind of witchcraft are we talking about? Believe it or not, Apple’s smartwatches were one step away from integrating with today’s ecosystem of over 3 billion devices running Google software, but Apple backed out at the last minute.

This is stated in an extensive report Bloomberg signed by journalists Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett. It sheds light on the problems Apple faced during the creation of the Apple Watch, a top-secret project that was launched in 2011 through a sort of “hidden” startup called Avolonte and under the direct orders of Steve Jobs.

The original initiative was to create a medical device that could measuring blood glucose levels without an injection. A very attractive idea, but today, almost 10 years after the appearance of the first Apple Watch, it has not yet come to fruition. Of course, the people of Cupertino are not giving up. There are still rumors about the appearance of this function in future versions of smartwatches.

What’s remarkable about this story is that An Android-compatible version of the Apple Watch turns out to be more real than we could have imagined. Gurman and Bennett explain that this was done very seriously and with a clear goal: to provide the watch to as many users as possible. Especially for those in countries where Apple’s core products—the iPhone and Mac—didn’t have much of a presence.

Project Fennelor how to transfer Apple Watch to Android

Bringing the Apple Watch to Android was a big enough project that Apple gave it a code name: Project Fennel. It is unclear whether this initiative was launched when the smartwatch was not yet introduced, or whether the decision to integrate it into Google’s OS was made after the device was already on the market.

It is mentioned that to ensure Apple Watch compatibility with Android phones, a version of the Health app will be launched for the said software. However, the residents of Cupertino They backed down when the project was almost completed.journalists say Bloomberg.

What would influence this decision would not be the fear that the Apple Watch would not achieve its desired sales among Android users, but rather that will negatively impact iPhone marketingApple’s flagship device.

This approach makes sense given that Apple’s deep integration of products has created an ecosystem in which business metrics feed off each other. One of the sources of the above-mentioned publication was categorical on this matter: “If you give away your watch to Android, you’ll reduce its value to the iPhone.”.

A smartwatch market that could be very different

Since the Apple Watch is compatible with Android, it is likely that many other smartwatches available on the market today will. they would never exist. It’s true that Google has integrated more and better watches into the ecosystem thanks to the relaunch of Wear OS after its merger with Tizen.

However, it’s impossible not to feel that some of the more attractive offerings, such as the Pixel Watch 2 or Samsung’s Galaxy Watch, They were late or failed to position themselves as a necessary accessory for the public.. If you’re walking down the street and bump into someone with an iPhone, you’ll probably see an Apple Watch on their wrist; something that other manufacturers have not yet been able to replicate.

Be careful: the Apple Watch is still a long way from being Apple’s most important product or the one that makes the most money. However, the area wearable devices It is positioned as one of the fastest growing in the coming years. And we’ve already started to see some signs of this.

At the time of its fiscal third-quarter results presentation, it was the second highest-earning hardware category, behind only the iPhone and ahead of the iPad and Mac. year-on-year sales growth. It will be interesting to see how this story develops. Let’s not forget that tomorrow, November 2, Apple will report results for the last quarter of its fiscal year.