Speaking at the D11 conference down in California this evening, Apple CEO Tim Cook was careful not to reveal any specific plans by the company to get into the market for wearable computing. But his comments made it clear that he sees more opportunity in smartwatches than in glasses.
His comments add new fuel to persistent reports that Apple is working on some kind of smartwatch.
Under questioning from Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher tonight, Cook said wearable computing in general is “ripe for exploration” and “another very key branch of the tree” for the tech industry.
Pressed for his thoughts on smartglasses such as Google Glass, he said he believes augmented reality will be difficult to pull off “from a mainstream point of view.” He noted that people want glasses to be light, unobtrusive and fashionable.
In contrast, he said that “the wrist is interesting,” but noted that it comes with his own challenges, as evidenced by the fact that many people of younger generations don’t wear watches anymore.
“For something to work here, you first have to convince people that it’s so incredible, they want to wear it,” he said.
Watch the video above, and see more coverage of Cook’s talk and the conference on the AllThingsD site.
Previously: Filing explains how Apple smart watch would work — and why it could succeed
