Many signs are pointing to Apple incubating a wearable wristband, perhaps an “iWatch,” given all the trademark applications the company has filed for the name. Apple is reportedly moving around some of its top engineers, and is hiring experts in sensors and in digital fitness and medical technologies, to build up a special task force to create a product that can follow in the grand footsteps of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The company has also filed 79 patents containing the word “wrist.”
Read: 9to5Mac: iWatch’s novelty emerges as Apple taps sensor and fitness experts
During an interview at the D11 conference in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook, who wears a Nike Fuel Band and has been on Nike’s board of directors since 2005, coyly said that he found wearable computing “profoundly interesting” and “ripe for exploration.”
It could be that Apple is working on a competitor to Google Glass, but the company isn’t telling. Cook has categorized Google Glass, which works with the iPhone, as more of a niche item that’s “probably more likely to appeal to certain markets.” In any case, the iGlass name is taken — it’s a 3D glassblowing simulation iOS app.
Cook pointed out the difficult task in front of Apple’s growing team dedicated to wearables. He cautioned that “you have to convince people it’s so incredible you want to wear it,” noting that most young people don’t wear watches on their wrists.
Apple’s team has a great deal of research material to work with in its quest to develop an “incredible” iWatch. The smartwatch category is littered with failed products and teeming with new attempts to crack the code. So far, none of the candidates, which are primarily accessories for Android and iOS smartphones, have reached critical mass.
The Pebble Watch, which has music controls, text messaging, call notifications, and a mini-app platform, and the Martian Passport Watch, which screens phone calls and messages and even makes phone calls, are among the recent entrants. Sony is revamping its Smart Watch, and Samsung and Microsoft are reportedly also working on wrist-bound devices.
The challenge for Apple and others trying to crack the code on wearables is producing a device that appeals to a mass market that doesn’t need a watch to tell time or view blockbuster movies. The user experience for the tiny screen must feel intuitive and be simple to operate — otherwise it will scare away the nongeeks. It can’t frustrate users with physical or virtual button controls that require complex combinations to perform a function, or a battery that lasts only a few days.
Apple has done this kind of development triage with its other mobile products, which involves eliminating functions rather than trying to satisfy every possible user need. CNET’s Scott Stein has reviewed most of the smartwatches in recent history and is a fan of the iPod Nano watch. He suggests that the key to a successful iWatch is replicating the app platform formula and cool design that fueled the growth of the iPhone and iPad, but at a price far less than that of an iPhone or iPad.
The iWatch has been pegged by Apple watchers for launch either later this year or next year. Whenever an iWatch appears, the expectations are high that it will redefine the smartwatch category as an extension of the iOS platform, and sell in the tens of millions in the first year. If not, the Apple watchers will start to question whether the company is losing its magic touch.
Source:http://www.techrwanda.com/news/3165/apples-quest-for-an-iwatch-on-every-wrist/
Apple's quest for an iWatch on every wrist