From the Department of ‘Headlines Matter’

Headline from The Verge: “Google Will Launch Two Flagship Smartwatches Early Next Year”. But from the story, by Dan Seifert:

The new models will not have Google or Pixel branding, but will be branded by the company that is manufacturing them. Chang says that Google collaborated with the manufacturer — which he wouldn’t name, but said has produced Android Wear devices in the past — on the hardware design and software integration for the watches. He likened the partnership to Google’s Nexus smartphone program in terms of collaboration and goals.

So if they’re not “Google” or “Pixel” watches, why does the headline say Google is launching them? (Answer: because that headline gets more clicks than one with “LG” or whoever it is who’s making these.)

And, conversely, if, as The Verge has claimed, Google is finally getting serious about hardware and “wants to be another Apple”, why don’t these smartwatches have Google or Pixel branding?

★ Thursday, 22 December 2016