Samsung: We're doing smart watches too
Patent lawyers uncork the champagne world-wide
It's Cupertino's turn to capture a flag planted by Samsung: while Apple has been content to allow leaks to fuel rumours about its “smart watch” plans, its Korean nemesis/rival/copycat has gone public with its project.
In a discussion that will probably warm the hearts of patent lawyers worldwide, Samsung's Lee Young Hee, executive VP of the outfit's mobile business, has told Bloomberg the company has been “preparing the watch product for so long … We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
The Apple rumour-mill has it that 100 product designers are working on Cupertino's fruit-on-the-wrist plans, and analysts are already polishing their hype-machines to predict how much of the $US60 billion watch market worldwide could be garnered by Apple replacing Rolex as the wrist-warmer of choice.
Even if Citigroup's predictions for smart watches were true, it's hardly going to be a turnaround for the mobile market. Bloomberg notes that the total handset market – $358 billion – is “nearing saturation”. A “$US6 billion opportunity” would represent merely 1.68 percent growth, which would be hard to distinguish from nearly no growth at all.
That, however, is unlikely to deter starry-eyed Dick Tracey fans from imagining what it will be like to have a hot battery strapped to the wrist. ®
COMMENTS
Apple are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
"This is obvious. Anything Sony were doing 2 years ago Apple and Samsung will get in on too"
Fixed that for you.
Re: ...
"I do hope it can make and recieve [sic] calls!"
If you are talking about the watch, then you really haven't thought through the ergonomics of the situation (just like too many on the Pebble forums).
Try this. Hold your cell phone on your wrist. Don't put it on speakerphone mode just yet. Turn on a small amount of noise in your area - a stereo on low, a fan, whatever. Nothing loud, just enough that you would have to talk in a normal level to somebody else in the room. Now, call a friend on your phone. Try holding the phone to your ear to hear, while keeping your phone on your wrist. See how awkward that is?
Now, turn on speakerphone mode. Think about what this would be like on a bus, having everybody listening to both sides of the conversation. Think about everybody else doing it at the same time. Then ask yourself if this is any better than just using your phone in speakerphone mode as it is.
No, the ergonomics of using a wrist mounted phone suck. Wrist mounted controls and displays are OK, but you really don't want the audio there. And if you are going to use an earpiece, why not just use a regular Bluetooth earpiece, and let the watch be just a display and control point?
Rolex?
Bah. Rolex is just a decent watch dressed up in fancy clothes: You are paying for the bracelet and case. A Patek Phillipe on the other hand is a real work of art.
I would rather wear a proper watch than have some digital anomaly on my wrist.
