Apple says it tried to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android for three years, but “it was impossible”

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Apple says it tried to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android for three years, but “it was impossible”

Android, Apple, compatible, Impossible, watch, Years

The only thing you can do with an Apple Watch and an Android phone is use the phone as a hotspot for the watch. Apple Watches are not compatible with Android and it is a fact that the United States Department of Justice used as a weapon against Apple in the latest monopoly trial.

The Justice Department’s extensive 88-page document details every way Apple engages in a monopolistic situation, including in the smartwatch market with the Apple Watch. Apple, for its part, defends itself by asserting that tried to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android for three yearsbut it was technical limitations and not economic decisions that prevented it.

Apple Watch on Android: technically impossible

If you buy an Apple Watch, you need an iPhone to set it up, which, according to the United States Department of Justice, “prevents iPhone users from choosing other phones.” Furthermore, they add, “after copying the idea of ​​the smartwatch from other sources, Apple is now preventing these developers from innovating and limiting the Apple Watch to the iPhone to avoid a negative impact on sales iPhone”.

The DOJ’s argument is: smartwatches like the Apple Watch are expensive, so users They are less likely to buy a cell phone if it is not compatible with their watch. The Apple Watch is only compatible with iPhones, so users are less likely to switch to another phone (an Android phone, for example) because they would have to “ditch” their Apple Watch.

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Not only that, but Apple limits what third-party smartwatches can dothe best experience is therefore reserved for the Apple Watch which keeps you “tied” to the system.

Apple is defending itself, or at least trying to. According to 9to5Mac, Apple has confirmed that it considered adding Android support to the Apple Watch during an investigation that lasted no less than three years. The result was that this was impossible due to technical limitations, and so the idea was eventually abandoned.

It remains to be seen whether this response will convince the Department of Justice, although it is very likely that this is not the case. The lawsuit includes previous mentions from Apple executives in which, in internal emails, they acknowledge that the Apple Watch “can help prevent iPhone users from switching phones” or that compatibility with Android “would end in differentiation from the iPhone”.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Apple’s attempt to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android. Last year, Bloomberg reported that a group of engineers spent “a lot of time” making Apple Watches compatible with Android in what was internally called Project Fennel. It was then said that the project had been canceled at the last minute so as not to take away a large part of the value of the iPhone. Now Apple, in addition to confirming that said project existed and lasted three years, corrects and He said it was for technical reasons..

By | 9to5Mac

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