“Wearable computers, such as a wrist watch that makes phone calls, have for many years been the realm of comic books, science-fiction novels and spy movies,” Therese Poletti writes for MarketWatch.
“But reports over the weekend that Apple Inc is developing a so-called ‘smartwatch’ mean that the company could turn wearable computers into computing’s next frontier, as well as revive watch-wearing among younger generations,” Poletti writes. “‘We see the body as the next frontier for personal computing,’ said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research. ‘It would be strange for Apple to be absent from that, they absolutely have something to contribute to that.'”
Poletti writes, “Rumors that Apple is possibly working on such a device have been around for awhile, based on some patents it has filed and other clues. In early January, analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray wrote a note to clients that while he was unsure of the timing, he believed that Apple ‘will eventually introduce some type of wearable computing product.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Why Apple is working on ‘iWatch,’ not ‘iGlasses’ – February 11, 2013
WSJ: Apple testing ‘iWatch’ device – February 11, 2013
iWatch: Apple developing curved-glass smart watch, sources say – February 11, 2013
Tog: The iWatch will fill a gaping hole in the Apple ecosystem – February 7, 2013
Why Apple should hang-up on the iPhone, iWear is next – January 6, 2013
Analyst sees wearable computers from Apple as future replacement for iPhone – January 2, 2013
Apple and Intel secretly building Bluetooth smartwatch that connects to your iOS devices, say sources – December 27, 2012
Apple patent application details display-integrated cellular antennas – May 6, 2012
Apple patent app details next-gen microstrip cellular antenna for future MacBooks, iWatch and beyond – October 25, 2011
If they do this ‘I watch’ they should seriously think about providing a inductive charger. Just place the watch on the charger and in the morning your ready to go. Having to plug a cable into it would be lame. Or make some kind of dock.
no cable, no dock, no charger…solar.
Nuclear.
Ion energy.
Zero point energy.
That didn’t work out so well for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.
It worked out okay for the Ancients, SG-1, and Atlantis. Of course, it wasn’t always perfect, but it did save Earth a few times.
Of course, that’s all confidential, so now I have to burn down the website and kill everyone that read it.
And it helped defeat the Phor. Love the logo…. 😉
Thanks!
Even better: use the movement of your arms to charge the battery…
My watch already uses kinetic energy to keep going. 😉
i don’t want to wear a watch!!!
Then don’t. Simple.
It’s not a watch! It’s an I-WATCH! And you’ll be lining up with the rest of us.
😉
I don’t wear one anymore. I quit because I always have the time on my iPhone.
Maybe you won’t need your iPhone! 😛
But don’t you get tired of taking it out of your pocket to check the time? Seems like a bit of a pain to me. Or do you have it taped to your arm?
Just read what Tog said about this: addresses every question I’ve seen here and gives some really good reasons you WOULD want one of these. One example: no passcode if phone held in hand wearing watch and watch hasn’t been taken off since last entered passcode.
http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/
I’m not sure there’s a burning need for another device on top of a phone and tablet, especially given the screen size that your wrist could accommodate. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a Nike+ co-branded fitness device, but I’m straining to see what niche something like this might fill other than that.
I don’t understand this youth thing and not wanting to wear a watch. I love watches. They can be ultracool. To always carry your phone around in your hand or pocket and then to haul it out to look at the time is, well, inefficient at best, dumb at worst.
It you could make simple phone calls on your watch…..way cool Mr. D. Tracy.
Xactly…..
I’m over 50, used to wear a watch all the time, but now that I almost always have my iPhone with me, I don’t find myself needing my watch. Just that simple.
Apple in conjunction with Rolex would be quite the product.
Few under the age of 30 wear a watch of any kind.
Item next, the display on a watch would be tiny compared to the apparent size of a display integrated into glasses. No everyone has the eyes of a hawk nor do they keep such visual acuity.
I have 4 watches and never wear any of them except when camping or hiking in the boonies.
I’m 50 and I haven’t worn a watch for about 15 years. I stopped when I realised I always had a clock in my pocket via my cell phone.
I haven’t worn a watch since… I got an iPhone. I see no reason for one.
“But ho ho,” you say. “Watches are über cool and comic-booky and I feel like Dick Tracy and sh|t. I will have one!”
Well, okay, but I doubt most people will. It would be simple to make calls on your watch… if you want to talk into your wrist. It would be difficult to take pictures or shoot movies or use it as a bubble level.
Dumb.
“…wrote a note to clients that while he was unsure of the timing”
BECAUSE HE DOESNT WEAR A WATCH.
++++++
THE FUTURE!!!!
People don’t have a Rolex or a Cartier to tell the time.
Very Nice. http://www.cartier.fr/#/home
I respectfully disagree C1. Like most things it is marketing related. If you make wearing a watch cool (as in having it do something like make a phone call), then everyone will want it. Right or wrong, people want to be cool.
Apple has created new markets before and can probably do it again.
True, but people also don’t want to look like lunatics. This is why they don’t walk around talking at no one using Siri all the time. At least not that I’ve seen.
I’m trying to get my head around how you’d actually talk into a wrist-mounted device. Would it be a speaker-phone? Well, people don’t normally do that when there’s anyone else around, or in a noisy situation. So I don’t think a watch would change that.
Would it be headphones? Attached to your wrist? Really?
How about a blutoooth headset? Yeah, we all know how cool those make you look.
Take a step back and try to imagine how ‘cool’ this would be – Talking into your wrist like the main character in the worst comic book movie ever made. Is that cool?
I had a big discussion about this rumored device today and we talked about a lot of the potential features that go way beyond a watch and a speakerphone/FaceTime camera.
For example, it could be used as a biometric security device. You swipe your finger across it to unlock your computer, your iPhone, iPad, home, car, etc. And, in Tog’s article, he talks about how it could disable passcodes on those devices every time you come into proximity with them as long as the device hasn’t been removed from your wrist.
It helps if you think of it not as iWatch, but iBand.
Hmmmm. IWatch with integrated iTv remote and Siri? Sure solves the whole lost remote issue and Siri direct communication in a crowded noisey room. Ill take one in green and black please.
The possibilities are just as mindboggling as Apple’s other disruptive technologies. Running even a barebones version of iOS would allow a plethora of specialized apps that will turn the naysayers around in less than 6 months. Fitness; navigation; voice recording; siri; productivity apps and calendaring; FaceTime; bluetooth headsets; NFC? I’m not sure of the size demands of these things-perhaps the newly announced micron-wide antenna patent plays in? For sure if you build walkie-talkie like functionality into a stylish device and they will sell many many millions. Welcome to the new app ecosystem.
Why do people keep calling this a watch??? If all Apple can do today is make watches, the company is doomed!
A watch is a small device for telling time…typically worn on the wrist. You can get the time of day almost anywhere.
To be successful, telling time will only be a minute part of what this device will do. Calling it an iWatch would be the ultimate stupidity. Yes, it may be worn on your wrist, but so are bracelets, sweatbands and Livestrong Rubber Bands.
If we are able to deduce that this is a miniature, iPod, iPhone, walkie talkie or TV remote strapped on our wrist, then the product will FAIL miserably.
This needs to be a breakthrough product that we don’t now realize we need. But will stand in line to get one.
Continually calling Apple’s upcoming device a watch is totally moronic.
AFIB.
And thus begins a new round of patent wars and lawsuits…..
The Verge discussed this in a recent podcast and convinced me of the value of the “glanceable content” that such a device would provide. Think of all the notifications we get throughout the day: email, texts, Facebook/Twitter, breaking news, sports scores, yada yada. Relying only on your iPhone, you might discern the source of the notification based on which alert sound is used (if you have the volume on) but not the importance of it or anything about the content.
Is that incoming email an important message from your boss, or just nonsense from a friend? Was that notification an AP story about an earthquake in California, or a Facebook “like” of your cat photo? What’s the score of the Phillies game? You have to pull out your phone and turn it on to find these things out. But if that info came to you on your wrist, you can glance over, get some or all of the content without any other effort, and decide on the fly whether or not to act upon it. The experience is less intrusive than pulling your phone out every time. Yes, these are first-world problems for sure, but I see the value of a simpler way to stay in the loop throughout the day.
Add in all the other nifty stuff people are talking about and I’ll be there on launch day!