Certain automakers are more creative than others when it comes to diversifying its merchandise line. Some keep it limited to the usual fashion lines while others have gone as far as designing collaborative timepieces. Then there’s Porsche,->ke1 which has pretty much mastered the art of merchandising. From fashionable pieces to designer sneakers and headphones, Porsche has all these bases covered. These days, the German automaker has even begun to dabble into the smartwatch business with the launch of a Porsche-designed face for Android Wear.
It’s admittedly not the most high-fashion product Porsche has ever released, but when it comes to being a pioneer in smart watch product placement, well, the company’s got this base covered, too. And hey, you know, it’s free, so, yeah, free watch face!
Similar to Porsche’s design tenet of style in minimalism, the design comes with a simple white face with Porsche’s logo neatly inscribed in the bottom part of the face. A digital clock is prominently shown just above it and during the FIA World Endurance Championship, an outline of the host track is shown whenever a race is happening in that particular week. In case you’re wondering when this particular feature begins, the 2015 WEC season begins on April 12, 2015 at England’s famous Silverstone race track.
The Porsche watch face can be downloadable for free but it’s only available on Android Wear, which you can use on only a handful of smart watches, including the Motorola Moto 360, LG G Watch, LG G Watch R, Samsung Gear Live, ASUS ZenWatch, and the Sony Smartwatch 3.
If you don't have any of these, then you're out of luck. But if you do, well consider yourself the recipient of a cool new smart watch feature courtesy of Porsche.
Click past the jump to read more about Porsche's new Android Watch Face.
Why it matters
Enjoying this feature is contingent on you owning a smartwatch, or in this case, any one of the smartwatch products stated above. Now I don't own one, which is unfortunate considering that I really wanted to see what the Porsche watch face looks like and how the tie-in with the World Endurance Championship manifests itself in the watch.
More importantly, an item like this, and a free one at that, could lead to more developments from Porsche on this particular product frontier. Who knows, we might even see other automakers join in on the fun and design their own watch faces in the near future.
Right now, Android Wear is the only wearable operating system that can use these developments. But once Apple's->ke2851 Apple Watch hits the market, then you're looking at another system that automakers can take full advantage of. At some point, it won't be just watch faces that will be developed. We might even see a future where you can use your watch to start your car. That's admittedly a long ways away but with the groundbreaking opportunities presented by smartwatches and wearable operating systems, things that were thought of as unseemly before have become possible.