Last week, Google announced Android Wear, a new version of Android specifically designed for smartwatches. Motorola and LG are both launch partners of this new platform and have together announced two watches: The Moto 360 and The G Watch.
The Moto 360 is a circular watch made from premium grade materials while the G Watch has a square face and looks to be made from slightly lower quality materials.
Android Wear utilises a card based interface, pulling data from Google Now. It is capable of displaying notifications from apps such as Facebook, Hangouts and YouTube. Google has released a free Developer Preview SDK that you can sign up for. They have also said that if your app uses the standard notification API then it already works with Android Wear devices.
Personally, I think Google has a winner: they already have committed launch partners and quite a lot of hype is stating to build up. They also have the key thing needed for a device in this form-factor: the cloud. Think about it. Google is using Android Wear to deliver the information you need at just the right time (like Google Now but on your wrist).
Google Now uses your devices sensors such as GPS to deliver information of traffic conditions, weather and walking statistics. They use your Google & YouTube history to work out what you are interested in, and what time you use that information. They also deliver information, such as stock updates to your watch. Also, based on search patterns, time zones and some maths, they can predict when you will need this information and push it to your device via the cloud.
All this data, combined with Google's state of the art data processing and data centres, as well as an easily digestible interface makes consuming the content you need throughout your day simple. This is something other companies that have made smartwatches, such as Samsung or Pebble, can't match.
Opinions are my own.