Google's name has popped up as one of the many manufacturers rumored to be working on a smartwatch a couple of times already, but today some new details on the company's wristwear efforts have surfaced. According to a report from GigaOM, Google acquired smartwatch maker WIMM Labs last year in order to bolster its own watch-building team.
Details on the acquisition are light, but today's report notes that WIMM Labs announced last year that it had "entered into an exclusive, confidential relationship" in the summer of 2012 that was focused on its technology and resulted in it ending sales of its Developer Preview Kit smartwatch. It's said that a "significant" portion of WIMM's team is currently hard at work with Google's own Android group.
WIMM Labs launched
its WIMM One smartwatch back in late 2011. The device featured a 1.4-inch display and was powered by Android, and while it could be paired with a smartphone like most other smartwatch products, the WIMM One could also run its own apps. Clearly the WIMM Labs team has experience with both smartwatches and cramming Android onto a piece of wristwear, both of which are things that could aid Google in building a new piece of wristwear of its own. Most of Google's smartwatch plans remain shrouded in mystery for now, but a report did surface
back in June claiming that the device will be able to connect to a smartphone over Bluetooth.
UPDATE: Google has confirmed to AllThingsD that it has acquired WIMM Labs. However, the company declined to offer up any other details on the purchase or what it plans to do with WIMM's technology.
