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"It looks like Google has been prepping to release a smart watch since at least last year, if a new report is correct.\nGigaOm reports that Google quietly acquired an Android smart watch startup called Wimm \"last year\" for an undisclosed sum in an effort to \"kickstart\" its wrist computing efforts. \nSee also: Samsung's Galaxy Gear Coming Sept. 4\nAt least two Wimm employees updated their LinkedIn profiles to note they now work at Google \u2014 Wimm's former VP of software and a former senior software engineer \u2014 and joined the company in September of last year. A note on Wimm's website says the company \"entered into an exclusive, confidential relationship for our technology\" in the summer of 2012.\nGoogle did not immediately respond to our request for comment. \nMore than half a year before the Pebble smart watch had its record-breaking Kickstarter campaign in 2012, Wimm started making headlines for its Android-powered smart watch, which let users view the time, weather, calendar appointments and play certain games. \n\"Overall, it's clearly a promising version 1.0 device and I'm betting that this second generation of smart watches could be the one that sticks to our wrists,\" Lance Ulanoff, Mashable's editor-in-chief, wrote in a review of the device at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2012. By the end of the year, however, Wimm had gone silent.  \n\nSince then, the smart watch race has heated up: Pebble's smart watch started shipping in January, Sony introduced an Android-powered watch this summer and Samsung is expected to release its own smart watch on Sept 4. Meanwhile, there are countless rumors that Apple is working on its own watch, commonly referred to as the iWatch. \nEarlier this year, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal both reported that Google was developing a watch powered by Android.  \nIn addition to acquiring additional engineering talent to develop a watch, GigaOm points out that the Wimm acquisition gives Google access to another valuable asset: the smartwatch.com domain. The domain redirects to Wimm.com and the farewell message shown above. \nUPDATE: Google confirmed the acquisition to GigaOm after the article was published.\nImage: Mashable"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/08/30/google-buys-wimm/>