Google discreetly removed smartwatches from its online store
The latest Google Store lists only have the following categories: Phones, Laptops and Tablets, Virtual Reality, Home and Entertainment.
At an event in San Francisco, Google launched a slew of hardware; two smartphones, new smart speakers, wireless earbuds and a new laptop. But new smartwatches were nowhere to be seen, even though the company rolled out the Android Wear 2 recently.
Technology news website 9to5Google was quick to notice that Google has removed the ‘Watches’ category from its online store altogether.
The latest Google Store lists only have the following categories: Phones, Laptops and Tablets, Virtual Reality and Accessories, Home and Entertainment. Interestingly, the Android Wear category is still accessible, but the only two watches that can be seen, LG Watch Style and LG Watch Sport, aren't available for purchase.
The smartwatch category has seen a slump in sales and many manufacturers like Motorola have given up on the idea of a smart wearable. LG is still making them, but it still unclear whether any more variants will see the light of day.
It’s too early to say that Android Wear is dead, since its official page is still accessible and the company has made no announcement about killing the platform, but it seems Google is no longer interested in selling the hardware.