Google's Android Wear is now called Wear OS

Google's Android Wear is dead — the name, not the platform.

Ahead of Baselworld, an annual watch and jewelry show, Google is rebranding its smartwatch software as Wear OS.

Contrary to popular belief, Google's smartwatch platform apparently isn't dead. Though most consumer tech companies have largely abandoned releasing new smartwatches, fashion brands have propped them up and kept the platform alive.

Here's the new logo:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

From Google's blog:

As our technology and partnerships have evolved, so have our users. In 2017, one out of three new Android Wear watch owners also used an iPhone. So as the watch industry gears up for another Baselworld next week, we’re announcing a new name that better reflects our technology, vision, and most important of all—the people who wear our watches. We’re now Wear OS by Google, a wearables operating system for everyone. 

To celebrate the new name, Google shared a few tidbits on how Android Wear Wear OS smartwatches are doing.

To date, over 50 different Wear OS smartwatches have been released since the platform launched in 2015. Between the holiday 2016 season and holiday 2017, device activations have increased by 60 percent year-over-year.

So, Wear OS not dead. Got it. Hopefully this means Google will actually give its smartwatch platform some love at its I/O developer conference in May.