Chinese wearable maker Huami announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Timex to build “a new generation of smart watches.”
Together, the companies will explore opportunities to develop new products and increase global presence in the smart wearables market. Huami hopes to leverage Timex's expertise as watchmakers to build new smart wearables, while Timex hopes that can leverage Huami’s significant technical expertise in artificial intelligence and biometrics.
Huami is a Chinese company backed by technology giant Xioami, and manufactures wearables that are sold under both the Xioami and Huami monikers.
With Huami’s app design and manufacturing capabilities and Timex’s marketing and watchmaking expertise, the companies hope the collaboration can help them burst into the brave new world of smartwatches. At this point, everyone is chasing Apple, and any competition is likely good competition to continue to push innovation in a market that is only beginning to take off.
The companies say they’ll target the United States, Europe, as well as developing markets in China and Southeast Asia.
You might recall that Timex released its IQ Move Activity Tracker about a year ago. The watch delivered Timex’s classic aesthetics, but many found its fitness capabilities insufficient and inaccurate. Unfortunately for Timex, that wasn’t good enough in the smartwatch market, where there are a number of options for consumers that offer a full range of fitness capabilities while still looking stylish. This new collaboration gives them access to the technology chops to execute where its last smartwatch fell short.
Read the full press release here.
