Samsung is working on its own iWatch. Here are some smart watch designs they explored over the last decade
By Staska on 19 Mar 13Well, it didn’t take long.
Only 5 weeks since the first rumors about Apple’s smart wearable iWatch device appeared, we now learn that Samsung is busy developing its own smart watch, too.
As Samsung Mobile’s executive vice president told Bloomberg:
“We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long. We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
And he is right. Samsung has been working on a watch/mobile phone combo for more than a decade. Here’s just one patent granted to Sammy in 2003 and filed for in 1999. And here are some other designs from their multiple patent apps, over the years:
The fact that Samsung could never create a successful commercial product from all that smart watch R&D, is another matter.
I just wonder, whether Samsung will wait until Apple announces its iWatch and will then scramble to create a close enough copy, or will they risk to go first and have a product that bombs. And then release an iWatch like device pretending it’s a creation of their own, as they did in smartphones, when they moved from the likes of F700 to Galaxy S.
On the other hand, it might be that Samsung will get its smart watch to market before Apple, and will do it right the first time.
Smartphone companions like Pebble have moved a long way to show what consumers may like. We also have a pretty good idea how Apple thought its iWatch should look and work back in 2011. And in the meantime, instead of being a fast follower, Samsung managed to create a new highly successful phablet category, leaving everyone else, including Apple, scrambling to catch up.
So who knows, Samsung smartwatch could be a huge hit from the start, too. Stranger things have happened.
And for now, it seems, smartphone wars between Samsung and Apple have moved the whole new level. The battles now start not with the release of new products, but with trading vaporware shots first.
If you liked the post, you might find these interesting too:
- LG, Pantech want in on smart watch buzz too. LG says it also has its own Google Glass type of thing
- This is the Apple iWatch. Directly from Cupertino R&D labs
- Apple’s wearable computing/personal items sensor network integrated with your iWatch or iPhone
- iPhone with OLED displays on the sides, fully flexible iDevices show up in Apple’s patent apps
- Nokia, Apple enter into patent licensing agreement, Apple has to pay up
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