Why is Facebook launching its own Smartwatch? (Even after the Failure of its smartphone)

Facebook has recently announced that it would launch its smartwatch during the year 2022. They have also planned to launch the further versions of the watch. However, this is not the first time the company is entering into the hardware technology sector. Let’s look at the latest news about the smartwatch, its features and also look at one of the reasons for the failure of their smartphone.

Facebook Smartwatch – Latest News
Features of the Facebook Smartwatch
Why is Faceboook Launching its Smartwatch?
Previous products by Facebook
Reason Why Facebook's Smartphone failed
FAQ

Facebook Smartwatch – Latest News

Facebook has conveyed that they would release a smartwatch under their brand during the 2022 summer. They have also conveyed that they would release the second and third generations of the watch in the coming years. The first smartwatch of Facebook is expected to be priced at around USD 400 (around INR 29,000) which could have certain changes in the coming years.

Features of the Facebook Smartwatch

The watch is expected to be released in three different colour variants namely black, white and gold. The watch will not only have the messaging features but also has a heart rate monitor and two cameras. It is said that the cameras will be able to separate from the wrist in order to take videos and share them on the social media.

The smartwatch is said to have two cameras, where the front camera can be extensively used for video calling services and the rear camera can be used for video recordings to share it on the social media. The rear camera will have a 1080p auto focus camera.

One of the most exciting features of this watch is that it can be used without an internet connection and users also have a feature to connect to services of hardware of health and fitness companies in addition to the heart rate monitors of the smartwatch.

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Why is Faceboook Launching its Smartwatch?

The main reason for releasing the Smartwatch is to try and replace the smartphones. The smartwatch owners are considered to use the smartwatch for the activities that are done through the usage of Smartphones.

Mark Zuckerberg also aims to create more consumer and hardware products in order to find a way and compete against the tech giants Apple and Google

Previous Hardware products by Facebook

Facebook has a set of hardware products already in the market which include a portal and also a video calling device with a voice assistant which is similar to Alexa or Google’s device. The company had also launched 3 new portals in the year 2019 and currently has 4 hardware products in the market. These products are available in the United States.

Facebook had also ventured into the smartphone segment in the past with the launch of the brand HTC back in 2013. But the venture had later failed and did not end being successful.

Reason Why Facebook's Smartphone failed

The smartphone brand of Facebook that is HTC was a global brand and was considered to be one of the coolest smartphones back in the times of its launch. The company’s smartphone brand had lasted only for about half a year and due to the poor sales, they had to slash the price of the phone.

Even after cutting down the price of the phone, the smartphone sales were really less and sold only about 15,000 phones. Some have estimated that the reason for the failure of the smartphone segment of Facebook was as users did not find a need for such a smartphone at that time and the features of the phone were already present on the mobile applications that were available on the iOS devices and the cheaper Android devices.

It was found that consumers were not dying to buy Facebook’s phone and there is a difference between the having a phone in the market and having a phone which consumers would choose to buy. One of the major reasons Facebook says they failed was due to the high pricing and poor user interface.

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Conclusion

The hardware segment is not an area where Facebook has been successful so far. Majority of the Facebook’s revenue comes through advertising and with the introduction of the Smartphone, Facebook will be venturing into an entirely new segment. However, the company has not yet decided on the name for its Smartwatch segment.

FAQ

Did Facebook make a phone?

Yes, Facebook launched a phone with collaboration with HTC but it was a flop back in 2013. The company created an Android skin for the phone and dubbed it Facebook Home.

What will be the cost of the Facebook Smartwatch?

The watch might retail for around $400 (Rs 29,000) and will have three colour options to choose from (white, black and gold).

When will the Facebook Smartwatch launch?

The watch is yet to enter mass production but should be available in the summer of 2022.