How Will Google's Wearable OS Impact The Stock?

Shares of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) may not initially benefit from Android Wear, but the stock could tumble if the new OS isn't promoted this week.

"If Google does not launch Android Wear OS and…smartwatches, then the stock goes down," Trip Chowdhry, Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research, told Benzinga.

According to TechCrunch, Google will talk more about the company's wearable initiative at its I/O conference this week. LG and Motorola (now owned by Lenovo) are expected to be the first companies to release a smartwatch that uses Android Wear instead of the traditional, smartphone-based version of Android.

Related Link: What if Apple's iWatch is Really a TV?

Samsung is also rumored to be developing a smartwatch for Android Wear, which could be unveiled this week at Google's event.

This would provide the wearable tech platform with support from three prominent manufacturers. But would it be enough to attract the masses?

In November 2013, Samsung revealed that it had shipped 800,000 Galaxy Gear units to retailers. At the time, Business Insider estimated that roughly 400,000 of those units were actually sold to consumers.

Pebble recently revealed that it also sold 400,000 units in 2013.

All smartwatch manufacturers collectively sold two million units last year. More than half of them were Android-based devices.

This is a small start for a product category that is expected to provide Apple with billions of dollars in additional revenue. Apple has not confirmed that it will release a smartwatch at any point in the future, but rumors have repeatedly claimed that the company is experimenting with wearable devices.

Google and Motorola will launch the first Android Wear smartwatch, Moto 360, sometime this summer. The device looks promising, but B. Riley analyst Sameet Sinha told Benzinga that it needs to be "feature-packed in order for people to adopt [it]."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.