At a meeting last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook promised “great stuff” to come and that promised innovation has become increasingly rumored to be a smart watch. Now Bloomberg has lent a little more fuel to the speculative fire by hinting that an “iWatch” could hit the market by the end of 2013.
The report details how Apple could tap into the global watch market and adds to the list of functions the still-developing watch could handle, like making calls, displaying caller ID, showing maps and monitoring health. The same source that reveals details of the watch’s capabilities also claims that Apple wants the device out by year’s end.
Apple has yet to confirm any plans for a smart watch but the company has filed a number of patent petitions that lend credence to its current efforts to develop and release a wristwatch-like device.
Much of the buzz surrounding currently available smart watches belongs to Pebble, which began shipping in January after a successful Kickstarter campaign. But there is plenty of other competition already on the market, like Cookoo and smart watches from Sony and Motorola.
As Google prepares its Google Glass for a reported release later this year, it stands to reason that Apple would want to come out with a smart accessory of its own to keep pace with its rival in the emerging smart wearables market.
