At Google I/O 2014, Samsung announced its first smartwatch running the Android Wear platform – the Gear Live.
Less than a year later it has been dropped from the Google Play Store, possibly at the request of Samsung, suggesting the manufacturer has given up on the Gear Live and maybe even the entire Android Wear platform.
Samsung had previously released the Galaxy Gear and the Gear 2 smartwatches which both run the in-house produced Tizen OS instead of Android Wear.
In fact, Samsung has released six smartwatches over the past two and a bit years and five of them have been running some form of Tizen OS.
Missing in action
We've reached out to Samsung for comment on why the Gear Live has gone AWOL but there has yet to be a response.
Dropping the Gear Live less than a year after release seems like the manufacturer is admitting defeat in the Android Wear game and breaking out the Tizen masterplan again for the future.
Samsung hasn't announced a smartwatch since August 2014 – quite a long break considering we saw five last year – so we wouldn't be too surprised if we were to see a new Tizen based addition quite soon.
If you're in the market for a smartwatch you'll still find the LG Watch Urbane, Moto 360 and ASUS ZenWatch on the Google Play Store ready and waiting for a loving home.
- Here's our original review of the Gear Live.
