Apple iWatch Concept

The New York Times reports that Apple has been developing a Smartwatch based on iOS platform. The watch will apparently be made from a new type of curved glass, setting it apart from competitors such as Pebble’s Smartwatch. Still in its nascent stage of development, Apple is said to be currently experimenting with different wearable form factors. Details on design or its market launch are not known, but if the rumours are true, the product can be expected in a few weeks.

The elusive “iWatch” has been running around the rumour factory since the beginning of 2011 , when the Times first reported about Apple and Google’s forays into wearable computing. Apple’s experiments at that time were described as a logical extension of the iPod Nano — a “curved glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist.” Later on, sources familiar with the company’s plans said that users would be able to communicate with the device using Siri, although it has not been confirmed yet.

Thanks in large part to advances in bendable technology, the concept Apple had been looking for might be brought to fruition. Corning, the makers of Gorilla Glass displays, unveiled their latest Willow Glass display last year — a slim, flexible substrate that can bend around other objects.

“You can certainly make it wrap around a cylindrical object and that could be someone’s wrist,” Corning CTO Pete Bocko told the Times. “Right now, if I tried to make something that looked like a watch, that could be done using this flexible glass.”

Bocko cautioned that designing a glass wearable for the human body is still an uphill task.

“The human body moves in unpredictable ways,” he said. “It’s one of the toughest mechanical challenges.”

With increasing competition in the wearable tech market — not only from Pebble, but from Google as well, it would be interesting to see Apple entering into the market. Google hopes that its Google Glass headset will eventually comprise three percent of its revenue by 2015. Google’s Smartwatch concepts have already been reported about a month back.

The Wall Street Journal is backing up the Times report, citing sources that say Apple is trying out various designs for a Smartwatch. Apple is said to be in talks with Foxconn, their manufacturing partner. Foxconn is apparently working on technology that will enable to make wearable devices.

Source: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal

Salman Ravoof

Salman Ravoof is a freelance writer, a mechanical engineer and an avid science and technology enthusiast. He likes creativity and is a great fan of fantasy and sci-fi genre. When not busy, he revels in experimenting and spends most of his time pondering about the existence of reality.

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