With the smartwatch market heating up, Apple are keen to get ahead of the game and have reportedly filed an ‘iWatch’ trademark, which could release next year.
Gadgets and technology certainly go through phases and for the past few years we’ve been in a period of ‘smart’ gadgets ; phones and TV being the most prominent and successful of these so far. The next round of smart gadgets is likely set to be smartwatches, giving us interactivity and connectivity for when telling the time isn’t enough and we want to be able to get apps and the Internet on our wrists too. The latest company to buck the trend is Apple, who have just put in a request for the ‘iWatch’ trademark, suggesting that an Apple smartwatch is on the way.
Filed in Japan, a booming market where most of the popular gadgets of today are tested before worldwide or Western releases, Apple’s request to get the name ‘iWatch’ into their portfolio has been successful, confirming the product’s development even if Apple themselves haven’t confirmed it. According to business blog Bloomberg, the filing referred to “products including a handheld computer or watch device”, which is as close as we’re going to get to hearing the smartwatch moniker outside of an official press release.
Of course, the big question is just what we’ll get from an iWatch if and when Apple release this wearable device. It’s likely that their in-development product will be big on connectivity.That probably means that Wi-Fi and maybe even 3G capabilities will be on board, in conjunction with some form of pared down iOS software, which will be perfect for downloading apps or even surfing the web. Also in terms of connectivity, the iWatch could also offer up phone calls, making it a great, but much smaller alternative to iPhones and iPods.
Another question is of when the iWatch will be released. Initial speculation suggested the iWatch would be out sometime in 2013, but as Apple revealed that there will be no ‘new product categories’ before 2014, if there’s any chance we’ll see its release, look to the beginning of next year.
Apple won’t want to wait a great deal of time to reveal information about the iWatch so an announcement is imminent. We’ll keep you posted once we know more.
Source : GigaOm
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