Swatch CEO Nick Hayek has dismissed the Apple Watch as an “interesting toy” in a recent interview.
Hayek, the head of the established Swatch watch brand, was speaking to Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger when he made his comments on the prominent smartwatch.
When asked if Swatch could afford to ignore the smartwatch revolution currently being spearheaded by the Apple Watch, Hayek responded (via Google Translate and Pocket-lint): “The Apple Watch is an interesting toy, but not a revolution.”
Hayek calls his company’s lack of a “computer for your wrist” product “a very carefully precipitated strategic decision.”
He cites ongoing issues with poor battery life as a leading reason for not pursuing the Apple Watch formula, as well as concerns over personal data security.
The Swatch CEO claims that the company isn’t shunning technological progress altogether, and points to the Touch family and its curved touchscreen display.
Related: Apple Watch 2 release date
The Swatch Touch Zero Two is next up, and will be launched to coincide with the Rio Olympics in 2016. This next watch will come with NFC technology for mobile payments – a decidedly smartwatch-like feature.
Hayek is clearly unimpressed with rival smartwatch efforts to date, and he believes that Swatch’s own battery-free Sistem 51 self-winding watch mechanism is far more revolutionary.
See how we got on with the Apple Watch in the following video:
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.