Sony is reverting to its old habit of heading off on its own when it comes to following an industry standard by declaring that it will not use the Android Wear operating system.
The company said that instead of adopting Google Android Wear operating system, it will instead use an Android-based OS created in-house created for its smart watches and other wearables. Android Wear has already been picked up by LG and Motorola with Samsung also listed as an interested party.
Sony's reasoning for sticking with its own software is logical.
"We've already invested time and resources on this platform, and we will continue in that direction," said Ravi Nookala, head of Sony Mobile U.S.
Even though Sony's thought process makes sense, the company has had an interesting, and checkered, history whenever it decides to take a contrarian approach to a new format.
When the VCR first came out, Sony supported the Beta platform, and lost; the company insisted MiniDisc would be the next thing for storing music, even after the debut of the downloadable MP3, and lost. And in an odd case, Sony and Philips backed Super Audio CD vs. Toshiba's DVD-Audio and both formats lost as consumers had no desire to replace their CD collection with something new, although the format still has a few adherents in high-end audio circles.
However, to give Sony its props, the company was on the right side during the Blu-ray Disc vs. HD-DVD battle 10 years ago.
There is a good chance that Sony's early decision to go its own way may not matter in the end. Despite a great deal of Internet hype, for the most part, the average consumer knows little of these devices and even fewer people have any intention of making a smart watch purchase
A study by The NPD Group found that about 50 percent of those surveyed had heard of wearable devices only about 33 percent had any intention of buying one any time soon. Drilling down a bit farther, of the 36 percent of people who said they had heard specifically of smart watches only 23 percent of those indicated a desire to own such a device. Wearables like Google Glass were even less likely to be purchased.
The reasons NPD found were the watches size and appearance along with a fear that they will easily break.
