Fossil wants no introduction. The American style watchmaker initially set up shop in India in 2007 and hasn’t looked back considering that. It forayed into the smartwatch space in 2016 with the Gen 2. Needless to say, it was an early mover in the enterprise of smartwatches in the nation. Today, India has grow to be the world’s third biggest smartwatch market place and Fossil’s enterprise has grown “quite considerably” more than the years. Which is why, it is launching its next-gen smartwatch—the Gen 6—in India at the similar time as worldwide markets. Something like this has in no way occurred ahead of.
“This is the first time ever that we are synchronizing our launch in India along with the global launch,” Johnson Verghese, Managing Director of Fossil India tells TheSpuzz Online, adding “I think that is a great win.”
As with any other technologies that is regularly evolving, the launch window is vital to smartwatches also “and if you launch at a time-frame different from when it is launched already, then the time-frame that you have to absorb that product into your market also reduces.” Another purpose could be that Fossil is incredibly confident about the item it has made and it desires more and more men and women to encounter it as quickly as attainable.
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Not only did Fossil start out producing smartwatches early—relative to any other legacy watch brand—the organization has had a profound impact on how they are sold. Department shops, for instance, have been not common areas exactly where you could purchase a smartwatch back in the day. Fossil brought smartwatches to that vertical, as it have been, Verghese says. A lot of the best watch retailers—we’re speaking significant watch chains—got their initially encounter with smartwatches with Fossil, he adds.
Of course, you’d obtain Fossil smartwatches at electronics shops but “we’ve opened up a lot of distribution channels that really weren’t prime distribution channels or early distribution channels for the business.”
Future gazing
Getting into the smartwatch space was a concerted strategic selection for Fossil. Acquiring wearable maker Misfit—that had former Apple CEO John Sculley as one of its co-founders—in 2015 brought the head start out it necessary.
Fossil believed smartwatches have been right here to keep. But possessing stated that, transition into a new, uncharted category didn’t imply Fossil would shift focus. Being into the style space, aspiring for a greater tier which is to say the higher-finish luxury market place, was potentially attractive but rather it chose to stick with what it did best—to strive for getting the suitable balance, in this case, amongst style and technologies.
“When we looked at the landscape at that point of time, for connected watches, there was a lot of technology input, but I don’t think people really looked at it from the point of view of a fashion accessory. That’s what Fossil managed to do. Bring together the fashion element of the business along with the technology element,” Verghese says, adding “so, if you ask us what it is that we bring to the table that is different from anybody else, I think we understand the ethos of fashion.”
With the Gen 6, Fossil believes it has been in a position to bring collectively a correct style item that is suitable at the best in terms of cutting-edge technologies.
“I think it’s a great balance that we’ve been able to achieve.”
To Wear or not to Wear, that is the query
As strong and future-prepared as the Gen 6 appears—at least on paper—it’s not devoid of its fair share of issues. The most significant becoming Wear OS, the application that drives it. The Gen 6 will ship with Wear OS 2 and not the most up-to-date Wear OS 3 that runs on Samsung’s new Galaxy Watches. Fossil has confirmed it will offer you upgrades to Wear OS 3 for the Gen 6 sometime in 2022.
That’s a large bet, even for Fossil. Especially at a time when just about all the other smartwatch makers have either provided up or moved on to in-home application. The Samsung-Google partnership could be the final nail in the coffin, for all we know. Fossil will continue making use of Wear OS for the unforeseeable future although.
“I would only like to reiterate that the partnership that we have (with Google) has stood us in good stead all these years. And it’s a partnership that we intend to continue. So, no plans beyond that at this point of time,” Verghese says.
Question is, does Samsung and Google joining hands bother Fossil?
“The Gen 6 is already Wear OS 3 ready. In 2022 when we actually go live with Wear OS 3, we will then be able to benefit from the entire suit of features that come in from the Wear OS 3 platform. We have great hopes in terms of what that platform will bring to us in terms of various platform partners that can operate then on that software. So, we will wait till that happens. But at this point of time, we are absolutely and completely engaged with the fact that Wear OS 3 will be available on Fossil smartwatches in 2022,” he says.
But then, purchasers would have to wait till 2022 to advantage from “the entire suit of features that come in from the Wear OS 3 platform.” Samsung is supplying these added benefits today.
“Each generation that we’ve brought into the market has been more successful than the previous generation. I believe consumers are confident that we offer a unique proposition. So, for example, there’s a whole slew of additional features that we brought on board right along with the Wear OS 2 platform that we have today. And the fact that we are Wear OS 3 ready and will be engaged with Wear OS 3 in 2022, I think our consumers are pretty strongly supportive of that.”
Fossil Gen 6 decoded
The Gan 6 is based on 3 crucial pillars—performance, wellness and lifestyle—according to Fossil.
It’s becoming billed as the world’s initially smartwatch with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor that is supposedly bringing up to 30% more quickly functionality to Fossil’s new smartwatch. Fossil is also supplying more quickly charging—up to 80% charge in 30 minutes—that’s stated to be “faster than any of the competition.” The 4100+ platform on top of that permits for complete colour and complete featured ambient mode watch faces. The Gen 6 also adds Bluetooth 5. connectivity.
Wellness upgrades include things like a new SpO2 sensor for tracking blood oxygen saturation levels, auto activity generation, and enhanced heart price monitoring that performs seemingly properly even when the watch is loosely fitted.
“This is something that’s very, very specific that we understand as watch manufacturers. Not everybody likes to wear the watch tightly wrapped around. Our HR monitor is able to manage to give you accurate readings even with different skin types, even with different usage patterns in terms of how close it is worn to your skin,” Verghese says.
As for life-style, expectedly, the Gen 6 will come in a handful of unique types and sizes. There will be seven distinct models to pick from obtainable in a mixture of colours and straps like silicone, leather like and metal.
“When a consumer goes to buy a regular traditional watch, there is an element of choice that the consumer expects. And I think that doesn’t really go away just because they’re buying a smartwatch,” he says, adding “by offering a range of products, we ensure consumers aren’t forced to buy something simply because you want some functionality elements in that. It’s what we apply to our core business and what we’ve been able to apply to smartwatches too.”
A curious omission is LTE. The Gen 6 does not come with a cellular alternative in India.
“Well, at this point of time we don’t have an LTE option. We have launched an LTE version in the US. We are examining what that means in our country and time will tell when we will plan to launch that.”
Chip shortage and the way forward
Fossil, like just about every other significant manufacturer that utilizes chips, has been impacted by the worldwide semiconductor shortage. The demand has been humongous and provide chains have just failed to cope up.
“It’s a global phenomenon, and I think it’s going to take some time before that clears up,” Verghese says.
“In 2022, we do hope that the market is going to be back to pre-COVID levels. We can clearly see that happening. We can see the direction happening, the recovery rate after wave two has been much faster than the recovery after wave one. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope that is true. But yes, we are optimistic about what the last quarter of this year will bring in and about the future,” he adds.
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