Swatch to Launch Touch Zero One Smartwatch in August, Says CEO

Following the firm's unveiling of the Swatch Touch Zero One back in April, Swatch this week said it will launch the smartwatch in August. Swatch chief executive Nick Hayek was speaking at the the company's annual general meeting on Thursday when he made the announcement.

Swatch said it is also planning to launch watches with an embedded "near field communication" chip this summer, entering a smartwatch market that is expected to be fiercely contested by Apple and other watchmakers.

Back in April, Swatch had announced it is entering the fray with its first mass-produced smartwatch. The Swatch Touch Zero One features a curved monochrome touchscreen and built-in backlight. The touchscreen supports taps and side-swipes to manage six timing functions.

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In conjunction with the Swatch Touch Zero One app, the app will act like a fitness tracker for sports, beach volleyball in particular. Swatch happens to be the title sponsor of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. You can set fitness goals using its virtual coach feature as well.

With a generous display area and touchscreen, the Swatch Touch Zero One lets users check the number of times they've hit the ball in a game across four different kinds of hits ranging from attack hits to high fives as well as measuring the strength of a hit and rating the player on a scale of 0 to 100.

There is no information yet about on notifications for calls, alarms or emails on the Swatch Touch Zero One, thus making it essentially a fitness tracker. The company claims that the battery on the Touch Zero One will last for "months and months".

Written with inputs from reuters