When Motorola announced their Moto 360 watch (above) recently, many hailed it as a great moment in wearable design – finally, someone designed a watch which actually looks like a watch! It’s a big step forward from the uninspiring square-faced designs which have come before it. The timing of the announcement was perfect because people were still awing over a concept design which appeared a few days earlier, also featuring a circular display which imitates traditional watch design.

At the same time, Google also announced their Android Wear platform for wearables (used by the Moto 360 amongst others). At the moment the platform seems focused on three areas: card-based notification design, and touch-gesture and speech input. I’d love to see if Google eventually follow up on their patent for on-arm input and provide future platform support for novel input on the body or in the space around the watch.