Baidu Announces DuWear, The Company’s Android-Based Smartwatch OS

Smartwatches have been around for quite some time now, but aren’t selling as well as some OEMs have hoped. These devices are still kind of a niche product, though that might change in the near future. There are a ton of smartwatch offerings out in the market at the moment, the majority of which are powered by Google’s Android Wear operating system. There are other operating systems out there though, crowd-funded Pebble is manufacturing their own hardware and making its own software, and there’s of course the Apple Watch which has launched recently. Speaking of the Apple Watch, we’ve recently reported that it managed to outsell all Android Wear offerings real quick by raking in almost 1 million pre-orders.

It seems like another operating system will join the smartwatch party really soon though, Baidu’s very own offering which is actually based on Android. Baidu is actually a huge company, and a very well respected one in China. Anyhow, they’ve launched a website in order to introduce their Android-based smartwatch OS called “DuWear”. The company said that this OS will integrate with a number of Baidu-backed services, along with supporting the usual motion traction and heart-rate monitoring. Additionally, the company has said that all you need to do in order to get weather and stock info is raise your wrist. By saying “I’d like to make a payment” you’ll be able to complete a transaction via Baidu wallet which is integrated with the OS. Baidu says that they’ll also install some mapping and GPS software, and the app store will land later on.

So, you might wonder why would Baidu release a new operating system with Android Wear already being out in the market? Well, there are a couple of reasons. This will definitely give them the option to integrate a ton of their home-baked apps in the OS itself, not to mention that Android Wear is still not available in China, so the company is probably hoping their smartwatch OS offering will achieve success right off the bat and fill in the void. That being said, the DuWear OS will be available in late April and you’ll be able to install it on various already available Android Wear-powered smartwatches. Baidu said that you’ll be able to get the OS to work on the Sony Smartwatch 3, LG G Watch and Moto 360 right off the bat. That’s not all though, the company is planning to release their own DuWear OS-powered smartwatch as well which will land in June.