Bloomberg is out with a report this morning that unveiled more details about Apple’s souped-up watch and said that the product could arrive by the end of 2013.
The article suggests the “iWatch,” which reportedly could make calls, check caller ID, show map coordinates and carry a built-in pedometer and health monitoring sensors, could generate some serious profit for Apple, perhaps even more than the rumored Apple TV. Bloomberg analyst Anand Srinivasan compared the watch market to the TV market and said that profit margins on watches are about four times greater than on TVs.
The article also quotes Citigroup Inc. analyst Oliver Chen as saying Apple’s watch venture could be a $6 billion opportunity.
People close to the “iWatch” development say there’s about 100 engineers working on the project, which is led by Apple design chief Jony Ive.
Two weeks ago, Apple filed for a patent application that describes a “slap bracelet” with a flexible display that would wrap around the wrist, powered by ambient light. The display would deliver information to the user and provide more advanced interactivity than was possible back when Microsoft tried this.
About a decade ago, right around the time that Microsoft was trying to get us to use the first generation of Tablet PCs, the Redmond company was also pushing the concept of smart watches — wireless devices that displayed information such as news headlines, sports scores, gas prices and weather. The project was officially retired last year when Microsoft shut down the service that powered the devices via FM transmissions.
Locally, two Seattle friends are currently raising funds for their geeked-out wristband Kickstarter project.
