“Wearable computing devices, like Apple’s rumored iWatch, are projected to explode in popularity over the next year, according to a report issued Thursday by market tracker ABI Research,” Doug Tsuruoka reports for Investor’s Business Daily.
“ABI says that with a wave of new gadgets set to hit the consumer market, wearable devices could soon become the norm within five years,” Tsuruoka reports. “ABI also forecasts that the wearable computing device market will grow to 485 million annual device shipments by 2018.”
Tsuruoka reports, “‘Apple’s curved glass-based watch could prove to be a revelation in the wearable technologies market. The major question is whether the digital timepiece will act as a complimentary device to the company’s iPhone smartphones or as a standalone product with other functionalities like health or activity tracking capabilities,’ Josh Flood, an analyst at ABI Research, said in the firm’s report.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple patent application reveals slap bracelet ‘iWatch’ with flexible touchscreen display – February 21, 2013
Apple ‘iWatch’ leaks: Preemption or desperation? – February 19, 2013
Patents may point the way towards Apple iWatch – February 19, 2013
Samsung trying to beat Apple to market with ‘iWatch’ rival? – February 15, 2013
What if an Apple iWatch replaced most of the iPhone’s functions? – February 13, 2013
Apple ‘iWatch’ beyond ‘experimentation phase,’ sources say – February 13, 2013
Features that would make Apple’s iWatch a killer product – February 12, 2013
7 reasons why Apple’s unannounced ‘iWatch’ won’t fly – February 12, 2013
Patent application reveals Apple secretly developing wearable computing platform – February 12, 2013
Morgan Stanley: Apple iWatch, iTV could generate additional $80 billion annually – February 12, 2013
With ‘iWatch,’ Apple could turn wearable devices into next big thing – February 12, 2013
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
Except, except, I HATE wearing watches and rings and such. I thought at last we were beyond the Dick Tracy era. Well I guess it never really started but portable pocket devices are close enough. Hmmm maybe Apple will call it the iDick…
It will not stop with watches and decoder rings so fear not blood71, you won’t feel left out.
Textiles for luxurious garments are next.
Apple will patent multitouch fabrics embedded with flex-circuitry interfacing with bluetooth and wifi offering the user a total ethereal connection to the resources of the Internet. This connection can be scripted myriad ways to the delight of the user.
Unfortunately, the manufacturing process will require cost-prohibitive retrofitting and so we will begin to see a rise in new manufacturing here in America ignited by Apple’s treasure trove of intellectual property that will translate into textiles.
Pricey coats and hats and gloves will make up the bulk of the market for a product that is still to thick to wear casually, but will begin to appear for a market who goes for such novelties, but until Apple can weave silicon as thin as silk, manufacturing will be confined to high-security compounds on foreign soil, to secure the process from corporate espionage.
When the fabric is as thin as pantyhose and can be layered for effect, Apple will open manufacturing here in America to preserve the process and finally Americans will be producing specialty textiles in myriad fabrics, styles, and colors.
In the same manner the cotton ginning meme lead to the mass production of textiles to kickstart the industrial revolution, Apple Apparel, Inc will impact our GDP by an order of magnitude when manufacturing is in full bloom for embedding circuitry into our ties and tees.
Tugging a tie will shuffle your music, tugging your collar will condition the environment under your clothes; cooler/warmer, breathable/sealed, your clothes will not only make you comfortable inside and out, but will actually make you smarter, giving you an edge over those who cannot afford such apparel.
Your clothing is listening to you speak and as you talk a computer is poised to provide you with the word on the tip of your tongue; you’ll tug silently at your cuff and the word will be whispered into your ear!
When our clothes start whispering in our ears we’ll wonder whose voice it is we’re listening to as it is instructing us to take a leap of faith. Mmm…
In any case, the iWatch is just a precursor to wearable computers; our street clothes will envelop us in a shower of knowledge, cascading down from satellites and the population of Wikibots (people dispensing useless information like me) will become the world’s largest living organism of unoriginal people on the planet.
Computing will transcend man when he no longer controls the on/off switch so I hope they build a kill-switch into my jockeys before I exceed my better judgement!
Cheers!
an iHat would be nice.
to go with your iGloves which will do a lot more than keep your hands warm and cool but could be used as an interface with your TV or home and garden.
Hand and arm signals will get you laid but she’ll insist you keep the gloves on as well as your socks!
Beauty!
Never mind the iWatch…
Unnamed sources confirmed SAMSUNG is collaborating with Swiss designers to beat Apple to market with iCucko. Its interface includes a small door that will show you the birdie every hour on the hour…
I wanna show Samsung the birdie… 😛
Well, you can bet that Samsung, Google and others are working in this area. Apple certainly isn’t the only one out there doing this. But I’m pretty open minded about this. People didn’t think personal computers would go anywhere either. I think there are great possibilities here. And as for wearing it on your wrist? I would have no problem with that, but I have no problem wearing a watch either. And I have never understood how glancing at your wrist (which requires no effort) is the same as reaching in your pocket and pulling out a device to check for the time (which requires some effort)? Then having to put it back into your pocket again. It’s apples and oranges. It’s not even close. I understand if you’re a teen or 20 something and that’s all you are used to doing but it’s silly to say that they require the same amount of effort. They don’t. It’s just that it’s old fashion to a segment of society and its so cool to say that I don’t wear a watch. Oh noooooooooo, it’s old fashioned!
AFIB
Compl*e*mentary.
Ok media, you win. The iwatch is real. Spend the next 6 months link whoring until the next rumor shoots up, then milk that. Continue to bait and switch.
It will be amusing to see students go back to watches with Apple. Hardly any students wear watches on campus; they all pull out their phones…
“they all pull out their phones…
and BOOM! another snatch and grab with the perp running to the nearest store with an unlocked iPhone to collect three-hundred dollars.
That’s it. Poof! In one second you were holding your phone, oblivious to your surroundings because you’re preoccupied and the next your chasing someone who is well concealed from behind and will out run you.
Only problem I can see for the iWatch is Security, as in I wouldn’t be able to wear one in the classified lab in which I work. I’m in the “Defense Industry”, and even Bluetooth devices are verboten. Not to mention the classified meeting rooms we use. I can see us now, gathering up cell phones AND watches before starting a meeting.
I know, this is a Consumer product. But I am a civilian employee.
Apple is probably prepared to concede that it won’t sell too many iWatches to the ‘civilian worker in a classified lab within the Defense Industry’ sector.
Zippo made a similar judgement about the prospects of selling their products to oil workers and miners, but they’re happy to go for the remaining market.
So instead of disrupting industries, now Apple disrupts an entire nation. Switzerland may not survive this? Remember Borders Bookstore?