Apple is secretly building an iWatch deep within the confines of its Cupertino headquarters, according to a new report from The New York Times. The device uses curved glass to bend with the movement of the human wrist.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors of a mysterious iWatch. The Times reported that Apple was prototyping such a product in 2011. But with competitors like the Pebble smart watch starting to ship, the era of the iWatch may be drawing near.
A recent hire by Apple might suggest that Apple is interested in finally following the likes of Samsung and LG and release an iPhone with an Organic LED, or OLED, display.
For a couple of glorious years, Apple’s iPod nano came in a form factor that could be worn as a watch. Then this year, as Apple is wont to do with the permanently schizo iPod nano line, Apple switched to another design entirely, leaving fans who want a bonafide iWatch in the lurch. But perhaps there is method in Apple’s madness, as a new rumor suggests that Cupertino has phased out the watch-like nano to build their own Bluetooth Smart Watch for 2013.
ADR Studios is the Italian design company behind the iPhone SJ, a sultry concept design for the iPhone 5 featuring an edge-to-edge capacitive touchscreen, 10 megapixel camera, A6 processor, and a polycarbonate body that’s about as light as you can imagine.
It’s a design that’s not realistically going to happen, but we’ve been a little obsessed with it for the last month or so. We feel similarly about ADR’s new iWatch2 concept: Apple’s never going to make a device that was so exclusively and unapologetically a wristwatch, but if they did, man, I wish it would look like this.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – When Steve Jobs unveiled the sixth generation iPod nano in September of 2010, he coyly said, “You can even wear it as a watch!” Overnight, the “iWatch” was coined and a whole new industry was born, as accessory makers flocked to deliver iPod nano watchbands.
Over the last year, Apple’s added a variety of new graphical watchfaces to the iPod nano, further emphasizing the nano’s suitability as a watch replacement. But that’s not nearly enough. The iPod nano’s inherent iWatchiness is a quality that Apple is still seriously under-exploiting.
Want to know how good a real iWatch could be? Look no further than Sony’s SmartWatch, on display this week at CES.
Ever since Apple CEO Steve Jobs casually mentioned the idea that Apple’s new iPod nano could be used as a wristwatch, well, I’ve wanted one. And so have a lot of people. A nano wristwatch aftermarket has quickly emerged to satisfy demand. But what about Apple?
Cnet’s Gordon Haff wrote a blog post this morning called “Why Apple will do a real iWatch” in which he predicts that Apple will get into the wristwatch business.
I say they won’t, and I’ll tell you why. But first let’s look at Haff’s reasoning.
The moment Steve Jobs quipped about the new Nano’s perfect suitability as a time piece, we all all recognized the obvious accessory void that would quickly be filled: iPod Nano watch bands.
Here’s the first: a 22mm Maratac Nylon band that will slip through your nano’s clip and comes in matching colors for just $17.
The wisdom of tethering your headphones to your wrist is, of course, debatable, as is the necessity of charging your wristwatch once per day, but if you’re so inclined, it’s now just a Jackson away from being done.
Well, our insightful new columnist Mike Elgan certainly nailed it: mere hours after he received his new touchscreen iPod nano, Flickr user Kei Ogikubo has already added a watchstrap and turned the nano into an iWatch. Crap. I was skeptical before, but now I want one.