OmateRacer
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Omate's smartwatch is the first to be assembled in Africa
When Omate announced its $99 Racer last month, little did we know that this rugged, near-circular smartwatch will be heading to Africa -- Congo, Ivory Coast and Cameroon to begin with -- this coming June. According to today's announcement, this is all thanks to Congolese mobile startup VMK, who is already leading efforts to boost local smartphone penetration with affordable devices. Better yet, VMK will also be assembling the Africa edition Racer (plus future mobile devices) at its upcoming factory in the Republic of Congo, so unless someone else beats VMK to the race, this will be the first smartwatch to be assembled in Africa. Omate CEO Laurent Le Pen expects to sell 50,000 units in that continent alone this year, followed by plans to manufacture the whole device locally next year.
Omate adds two new circular smartwatches to its affordable collection
Omate's well known for bringing stylish smartwatches to the mass market, as we've seen with last year's $129 X (pictured left) and $169 Lutetia (second from left). To kick off 2015, the company is leveraging the same MediaTek Aster chipset (MT2502) plus the Lutetia's near-circular, always-on color transflective touchscreen to bring out two new designs: the Panerai-inspired Roma (second from right), and the Racer which is the "sport-oriented alter ego" of its round siblings. As before, the two new models will function mainly as notification watches with basic activity tracking plus customizable watch face, so they should offer the same week-long battery life. For those who want to give the rugged Racer a spin (we have a 360-degree view of it after the break), Omate's website will be taking pre-orders for just $99 per unit between January 5th and 15th, and after that it'll be bumped up to $129 until January 31st, with shipments expected in as early as end of February. There's no info regarding the metallic Roma just yet, but Omate's new partnership with the Richline Group will be offering these watches in US and UK retailers -- including jewelry stores -- this March.
