I'm not sure I buy "three years" of concerted, Apple-class effort.
It's probably something that got brought up occasionally, maybe even some exploration was done to see what it would take to port stuff across.
My feeling is that the business case just wasn't there. Their customer base is people that buy into the complete Apple Experience. Not being able to control the OS-level removes a lot of that control, and the inevitable friction issues that result may tarnish the experience.
It's like: Could the French Laundry offer takeout / to-go? Sure. Do they want to? Ehh..
The goal is to welcome people into the Fold, not just sell them a watch. They want them to have an iPhone, so that they then use iCloud and buy apps / videos / subscriptions in the Apple universe.
It's probably something that got brought up occasionally, maybe even some exploration was done to see what it would take to port stuff across.
My feeling is that the business case just wasn't there. Their customer base is people that buy into the complete Apple Experience. Not being able to control the OS-level removes a lot of that control, and the inevitable friction issues that result may tarnish the experience.
It's like: Could the French Laundry offer takeout / to-go? Sure. Do they want to? Ehh..
The goal is to welcome people into the Fold, not just sell them a watch. They want them to have an iPhone, so that they then use iCloud and buy apps / videos / subscriptions in the Apple universe.