Men have been yearning for materialization of the smartwatch since Dick Tracy first donned the 2-Way Wrist Radio in 1946. Over the years, many examples have come and gone, but none have withstood the proverbial test of time. Has the future of microprocessor enhanced wrist-bound chronometers finally arrived? Possibly so. Rumors abound, as of late, that almighty Apple is preparing to launch a smartwatch of its own … the much anticipated Apple Watch.
Hot on the heels of Pebble Technology’s e-paper smart watch success, internet clairvoyants, having sifted through endless lines of Apple minutia, have concluded that the chronological messiah has arrived … and its name is iWatch. The New York Times claims the iWatch may “operate on Apple’s iOS platform” and incorporate a curved glass surface based on “the company’s understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body.” The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has already discussed the idea with manufacturing partner and human rights champion Foxconn, preparing the iWatch to be Apple’s next “Big Thing.”
The naysayers (self-proclaimed realists) have already begun to respond in full force, advancing countless reasons why an iWatch at this time just won’t work. One argument is simply that “no one wants a Dick Tracy phone.” However, such an assertion seems to fly in the face of 66 years of comic reader 2-Way Wrist Radio envy and the overwhelming success of Kickstarter darling Pebble. Others decry that the user experience will be unbearably hampered due to screen size, thus rendering the device unsuitable for its intended purpose. While this may be a valid hypothesis, seamless Siri integration would go a long way toward assuaging such doubts and Apple apparently has devoted a large pool of resources to improving Siri’s artificial intelligence in the last 12 months. The main obstacle I see to emergence of the Apple iWatch right now is power … how long will the battery last and how can it be unobtrusively charged when depleted. If the imagineers at Apple have successfully tackled the power requirements, then maybe it is time to pull back the curtain on Apple’s iWatch.
Rumblings on the street set the iWatch smartwatch estimated price at $399 for a basic model … however, these are simply educated industry guesses so take that number with a grain of salt.
One more thing …
… just for fun, here is a collection of imagined iWatches from armchair John Ivies around the net 😉
Imagined video of the Apple iWatch unboxing from 2010 …
Source
Apple iWatch: [Company Website]
