HP And Titan To Develop New Smartwatch
HP Inc.is expanding its Engineered by HP program, collaborating with the watchmaker Titan to provide with smart accessories that are "productive and responsive, but not intrusive." "Engineered by HP is reinventing the experience consumers have with everyday accessories by making existing objects smarter through innovative materials, design and technology, to keep people connected to the way they live today," said Sridhar Solur, General Manager, Wearables and Smart Platforms at HP Inc.
Titan is a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation. The company is the world's fifth largest wristwatch manufacturer with over 15 million pieces sold annually in 32 countries around the world.
Titan is collaborating with HP Inc. under the recently announced Engineered by HP program, which has been designed to help smartwatch makers integrate new functionality is to their smart accessories.
HP develops the hardware modules, software and user interface, and is providing HP cloud services for all of the brand smartwatches. HP also designed the app that allows users to configure and connect the watch to the cloud. The HP smart accessories willbe compatible with both Android (4.4+) and iOS (8+) devices.
Brands can customize usage modes and features ot their smart devices. Basic functionality added by HP includes:
- Quickly check time, date, weather, stocks and sports updates (e.g., NFL, NBA, MLB)
- Receive email and social media notifications
- Read text messages
- Calendar and appointment reminders
- Battery status; power reserve up to a week
- Automatic time zone adjustment
- Activity tracking
- Haptic language for discrete notifications (i.e. vibrations)
Fashion and designers Movado and Michael bastian have been also cooperating with HP to infuse smart features tho their watches.