Apple Has Team of 100 Product Designers Working on a Smart Watch
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple has a team of about 100 product designers working on a wristwatch computer, according to "two people familiar with the company's plans." The New York Times previously reported that Apple had been "experimenting" with a curved glass smart watch, but Bloomberg believes that Apple's smart watch plans have moved beyond the experimental phase.
The team, which has grown in the past year, includes managers, members of the marketing group and software and hardware engineers who previously worked on the iPhone and iPad, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans are private. The team’s size suggests Apple is beyond the experimentation phase in its development, said the people.
Apple's senior director of engineering, James Foster, is said to be one of the managers working on the project, which happens to involve challenges like creating a smart watch that doesn't have to be charged every day. The smart watch, known colloquially by some as the "iWatch," would be able to do some of the same tasks as the iPad and iPhone.
Bloomberg also mentions that Apple had been planning a wearable fitness tracking device, much like Nike FuelBand or Jawbone Up, but that Apple had decided not to bring them to market. Apple CEO Tim Cook is a Nike board member and spoke about his own Nike FuelBand at the D10 Conference last year, also saying that wearable devices were an "interesting area" but that "the book hasn't been written on that one yet."
Popular Stories
Apple is working on a number of new products that are set to launch this fall, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that it will be "the widest array" of new devices that Apple has introduced in its history.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explains that Apple is working on four new flagship iPhones (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max), an updated low-end Ma...
Three months after their launch, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros continue to experience high demand and seemingly short supply, with shipping dates for both models stretching into multiple weeks in several of Apple's key markets.
In the United States, the baseline 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip is estimated to ship in three to four weeks, promising an arrival by at least...
Dropbox today announced that users who update to macOS 12.3 once that software version becomes available may temporarily encounter issues with opening online-only files in some third-party apps on their Mac.
In a support document and an email to customers, Dropbox said it is actively working on full support for online-only files on macOS 12.3 and will begin rolling out an updated version of...
Apple has always emphasized the depth of thought that goes into the design of its products. In the foreword to Designed by Apple in California, a photo book released by the company in 2016, Jony Ive explains how Apple strives "to define objects that appear effortless" and "so simple, coherent and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative."
But every once in a while even Apple...
Apple today announced the Black Unity Braided Solo Loop for the Apple Watch, as well as a new downloadable watch face, to celebrate Black History Month. Following the launch of the limited edition Black Unity Apple Watch Series 6 and Sport Band in 2021, Apple today launched the Black Unity Braided Solo Loop as part of its celebrations for Black History Month this year.Apple is launching a...
AT&T today announced the launch of upgraded AT&T Fiber plans, which support speeds of up to 5 Gigabits for some customers. There are two separate plans, one "2 GIG" plan and one "5 GIG" plan, available to new and existing AT&T Fiber subscribers.
According to AT&T, the new plans are available to nearly 5.2 million customers across 70 metro areas including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, San...
Benchmark results have started to surface for MSI's new GE76 Raider, one of the first laptops to be powered by Intel's new 12th-generation Core i9 processor.
Intel previously said that its new high-end Core i9 processor is faster than Apple's M1 Max chip in the 16-inch MacBook Pro and, as noted by Macworld, early Geekbench 5 results do appear to confirm this claim, but there are several...
Apple today released iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3, the third major updates to the iOS and iPadOS 15 operating systems that were released in September 2021. iOS and iPadOS 15.3 come almost two weeks after the release of iOS and iPadOS 15.2.1, minor bug fix updates.
The iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 updates can be downloaded for free and the software is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in ...
Top Rated Comments
It'll be a "watch" as much as the iPhone is a phone -- which is to say, that wont be its compelling purpose.
arn
http://www.sonymobile.com/us/products/accessories/smartwatch/
Some of these might happen in a small way instead, but when Apple does something big (probably only seen as big in hindsight!) I think it will be one of these:
Wearable computing (whether standalone or as a companion device; wristwatch-style most likely)
Automotive interfaces done right
TV done right (may include apps, may serve as a game console)
Home integration done right (remote control and timed control in new/easier ways?)
Desktop touch computing done right (not just OS X with touch awkwardly shoehorned in, not just large-size iOS)
Siri becoming something more (may include 3rd-party API, may include Siris AI in non-voice uses)
VOIP done right (audio-only, evolution of FaceTime, breaking the US carrier mess)
Mobile wallet functionality (ubiquitous payment, ID, keys; evolution of PassBook; fingerprint scanning)
I do NOT think it will be anything to do with augmented reality or virtual reality. I think those are awesome, but my list above is all things that MIGHT be of use to just about anyone. I see AR and VR being of interest to only a subsegment; AR because making it be widely useful would mean wearing something silly, and VR because its broadest appeal is only for certain kinds of gaming. (But give me a Rift! Im the subsegment!)
And Im not counting the many smaller enhancements to existing categories. Well see iOS 7+ (and OS X) drive lots of that evolution and it will be great, but Im speculating on the next big thing that either becomes a new category or redefines an old one.