Casio whose products are distributed by the recently listed Shriro in Australia, is set to move into the smart watch market.
This is the Company that four decades ago launched the world’s first digital watch.
Casio, now under new leadership, feels it’s ready to make a real run at the tech big guns including Apple, Samsung and LG, aiming to negate the need for a regular old digital watch.
The maker of the G-Shock series is betting its expertise as a watchmaker will help it outmanoeuvre the technological wizardry of the Apple Watch with a smartwatch that keeps an eye on the mass market’s need for comfort and durability the Wall Street Journal said.
Casio says its product will be a watch that tries to be smart, rather than a smart device that is also a watch.
“At times we just showed off with quirky features and then pulled those products when they didn’t sell well,” new company CEO Kazuhiro Kashio told the Journal.
“We are trying to bring our smartwatch to a level of watch perfection: a device that won’t break easily, is simple to put on and feels good to wear.”
Of course Casio is no stranger to launching watches capable of more than measuring time. The firm’s calculator watch is a retro favourite you’ll probably see adorning the wrists of hipsters from time to time.
The company’s fitness-focussed G-Watch GBA-400, a semi-smartwatch with Bluetooth connectivity and iOS and Android music playback, has also earned favourable reviews.
Casio’s move also reflects a change of guard: Kazuo Kashio, one of four Kashio brothers in the company’s founding generation, stepped down as president last week after 27 years at the helm and handed the reins to his son.
Casio has developed watches with schedule managers, heart-rate monitors and communication functions.
“At times we just showed off with quirky features and then pulled those products when they didn’t sell well,” said Kazuhiro Kashio, the company’s new president, in an interview this week.
$400, Mr. Kashio said, but he added that no decision has been made yet.
