At Google I/O this year, Google promised its next-generation smartwatch platform, Android Wear 2.0, for late 2016 but looks like they won’t be able to beat the deadline year. The company announced today that it is delaying the launch of the update, to 2017. Instead of the real thing Google has released another developer preview program for Android Wear 2.0, and today it’s releasing the third preview of the platform for developers.
The company will use the ample time to tune the software via feedback from developers, and it will have another preview build released before the end of the year. Today’s version adds a number of new features, most notable of which is the Play Store for smartwatches. The Play Store for Android Wear 2.0 will let smartwatch owners browse and download apps and watchfaces directly to their watches, without having to install them on their phones.
Android Wear 2.0’s Play Store will work when the watch is connected to a phone over Bluetooth or when it’s connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network (on devices with cellular connectivity). Google says that the delay for the launch of Android Wear 2.0 is so that the company can hit the quality requirements it has for the platform when it is publicly launched and not because of specific hardware delays. Google says that all of the devices launching this fall will support Android Wear 2.0 when the final version is available next year.
