It’s rather difficult to get too excited about a product that is spoken about but never seen, and while we’ve heard report after report pertaining to the so-called Apple iWatch, there’s been little evidence to corroborate the claims. Nevertheless, new bits of information are suggesting that the device will arrive around August-September time, with an abundance of sensors and fitness-centric features to help Apple tap into the $3 trillion healthcare market. Full details of the latest revelations can be found after the break!
Both Samsung and Sony joined the Pebble last year with their respective inaugural smartwatch efforts, and trailing the announcements of follow-up releases from both companies at Mobile World Congress, Google also took the wraps off Android Wear, a tweaked version of its famed mobile OS designed strictly for wearables. Since then, both Motorola and LG have unveiled their own smartwatches, and with most of the mobile industry’s big names now involved, all eyes are on Apple.
Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis has waded into the iWatch debate by suggesting that the forthcoming device will pack a multitude of different sensors that will work in conjunction with each other to help monitor a user’s fitness and wellbeing. Apparently, the sensors will be able to measure such things as blood oximetry levels and UV exposure, and all these health-related tidbits tie in rather nicely with the notion that iOS 8 will bring a fitness and wellbeing-centered ‘Healthbook’ suite.
The UV sensor is of particular interest, given that no smartwatch released so far offers anything similar, and would supposedly be able to warn a user if they’ve been exposed to dangerous levels of rays from the sun.
Given how busy the smartwatch market is becoming, Apple will need a USP to differentiate its product from the many others out there, and the ultraviolet light sensor could well be it. The component itself is very small, and is also said to be capable of taking readings for pulse rate blood oximetry.
Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, meanwhile, has put a rough time schedule on the iWatch’s release, suggesting that it will make it out for Q3 2014. This would coincide with the projected release bracket of the next-generation iPhone, and even though the company’s smartphone probably won’t be announced until a couple of weeks before its eventual release, we could well see the iWatch showcased as early as WWDC in June.
(via: AppleInsider)
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