Google has beaten rival Apple to the punch by releasing its first smartwatch, which went on sale last night (25 June) after being unveiled at Google's I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

Apple is expected to release an “iWatch” later this year, but Google’s platform for wearable tech – Android Wear – allied with its new fitness platform Google Fit, put the search and tech giant in a strong position for success in the fast-growing wearables market.

The first watches to run off the Android Wear platform – the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live – are now on sale and have several similarities. Both have the same rectangular shape, and the screens are virtually the same size – 1.65sq in (10.6sq cm) for the G Watch and 1.63sq in (10.5sq cm) for the Gear Live – although the former has an IPS (in-plane switching) LCD screen and the latter a SuperAMOLED screen.

The devices can be controlled by voice commands, taps and swipes, and linked to apps loaded on a smartphone, with the information they display intended to be more “glanceable” than the “fiddly” offerings we’ve seen so far in the smartwatch market.

On the fitness front, information from apps and wearables will be conducted by Google Fit, an open platform designed to help people keep track of their goals and allow developers to dig into rival apps and combine data for deeper and smarter insights.

The result will be that users can choose who to share their fitness data with and are free to delete this at any time, while we should expect a greater pooling of apps – much as Apple hopes to achieve with its its Healthkit platform – with Nike already pledging to assist so that other apps and wearables can utilise its unique NikeFuel information.

Other confirmed partners include: Motorola, Noom, HTC, LG, Withings, RunKeeper, Runtastic and Polar.
To read Health Club Management editor Kate Cracknell’s take on what tracking technology means for health clubs in the magazine’s June edition, click here.