Hasta La Gadget!

Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t generally talk too specifically about upcoming product plans, but he went out of his way to put an unusually fine point on when to expect new products than he usually does. Cook kicked off today’s Apple earnings call talking about how Apple is looking forward to exciting product news in the fall, and throughout 2014, and then reiterated the exact same thing during the Q&A period.

“I don’t want to be more specific, but we’ve got some really great stuff coming in the fall and across all of 2014,” Cook said later when asked if he could expand upon his earlier statements. Clearly, he didn’t expand, but he firmly reiterated what he’d said earlier. It seemed pretty apparent that Cook intended to manage expectations relative to Apple’s product release cycle in a much more direct way than Apple has in the past.

The statement on the surface seems designed to cool rumors and speculation that we’ll see a new iPhone (or perhaps multiple new models) at or around Apple’s upcoming WWDC 2013 event. Reports sourced from Apple’s supply and manufacturing partners have suggested a ramp-up in preparation for a June-ish consumer release, although just this past week some analyst chatter began to suggest that the iPhone 5S specifically might get pushed back to a (*gasp*) fall release.

Cook also wouldn’t go so far as to eliminate entirely the possibility that we’ll see new products before the fall, but he clearly wanted to put the spotlight on later this year and the entirety of next year in terms of product innovation. Whether that means we’ll only see modest changes before September, with big bombshells like the rumored iWatch sometime later, or whether we won’t see anything before autumn, remains to be seen.

Apple almost never spills any beans about what its product plans are, so it’s worth getting excited about fall based on Tim’s willingness to talk about that specific period, as well as his mention of “new product categories.” Still, unless he’s purposefully trying to throw us off the scent, people eager for new Apple products might also want to sleep through the summer.

There have been rumors of Apple creating an iWatch circulating the internet, and whether that’s just some far out theory or reality remains to be seen. In any case we’re sure many are wondering would such a device be of interest to consumers? According to research company, 451 Research, they polled 1,713 people back in March to gauge any potential interest in such a device. While the official device obviously remains a mystery, many speculate it would see integration with other iOS devices, like the iPhone and iPad, and could come with features common to smart watches, such as message checking, calls, sensors, music controls and obviously a link with Siri, and these are the features that the poll used to gauge potential interest.

Interestingly it does not appear that many are interested in the device, with only 5% claiming that they were very likely to get it. 14% went on to state that they were somewhat likely, 66% said they were unlikely to buy it, and with 14% saying they didn’t know. While these figures apparently don’t look very promising should Apple ever release such a device, it should be noted that similar figures were reached when gauging interest for an Apple tablet as well as for Intel-based Mac computers, suggesting that even though the interest might be low, they could see an increase if and when such a product is released. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in an iWatch?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Could Be Looking To Replace CEO Tim Cook , iPad 5 Rear Shell Leaked Image Shows Off New Mini Form Factor [Rumor],

It’s almost like Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft have actually launched smartwatches. Except of course they haven’t. But who cares! Analyst house ABI Research has been stroking its collective beard and come up with a forecast for the size of the nascent smartwatch market. And — drum roll please! — it reckons you can bank on more than 1.2 million of the wrist-strapped gizmos shipping this year.

Put another way, that’s about as many Raspberry Pi microcomputers shipped in its first year on sale. Or just over a third as many netbooks are predicted to ship this year (3.97 million units globally, according to IHS iSuppli). Which means smartwatches could be about as popular as a niche gadget for learning about computing/making a DIY robot, but less popular than the PC that’s cannonballing towards extinction the quickest.

Which sounds about as plausible as any guesstimate produced prior to any mainstream tech companies actually launching product. If you’re in the business of reading tea  leaves it helps if you wait for someone to make a brew before doing divinations.

ABI says its “market intelligence” of the “strong potential emergence of smart watches” — note the careful hedge, and don’t bet the farm on this one just yet — is based on the emergence over the past nine months of “a number of new smart watches”, which is likely referring to Kickstarter-funded Pebble and its myriad of wrist-coveting, crowdfunded competitors.

The analyst also says its forecast is based on ”contributing factors” that it reckons are encouraging the smartwatch market to (maybe) emerge from its Kickstarter-powered chrysalis and (possibly) blossom into a standalone butterfly — namely:

…the high penetration of smartphones in many world markets, the wide availability and low cost of MEMS sensors, energy efficient connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth 4.0, and a flourishing app ecosystem.

Even though the smartwatch market remains a partially formed, largely limp-wristed creature, listlessly stuck within its chrysalis of potential, ABI has already spotted four categories hoping to fly in the months and years ahead — aka: notification types (such as MetaWatch and Cookoo); voice operational smartwatches (such as Martian); hybrid smartwatches; and completely independent smartwatches — i.e. smartwatches that have their own OS and aren’t just playing second fiddle to a smartphone.

In the latter category, ABI cites I’m Watch as an example but also suggests that other “possible archetypes” could be “Apple’s hotly anticipated iWatch, Samsung’s Galaxy Altius and Microsoft[‘s ‘Windows Watch’, or whatever catchy name Redmond ends up bestowing on it, if indeed it ends up making such a thing at all]. If Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos or Justin Bieber decide to launch their own Android-powered smartwatches ABI would presumably add those in here too.

“Smartwatches that replicate the functionality of a mobile handset or smartphone are not yet commercially feasible, though the technologies are certainly being prepared,” adds senior analyst Joshua Flood in a quasi-illuminating statement of the potential factors that could influence this nascent market’s potential as the hands on our (non-smart)watches push inexorably on.

[Image by Telstar Logistics via Flickr]

Google has certainly made waves in the wearable technology niche with Glass. Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, has confirmed that it is working on a Google Glass rival, but it isn’t sure when it will commercialize the product. According a new rumor, Microsoft is going to launch its very own Glass rival in 2014. Rumors regarding wearable technology have escalated in recent months as Google Glass continues to gain hype, despite the fact that it is still in development. Microsoft’s plans aside, Apple too is rumored to be working on its own wearable tech, something called the iWatch.

Analyst Brian J. White of Topeka Capital Markets said in a note to investors that he believes Microsoft is working on its own set of internet connected glasses. Only recently Brain speculated that Apple is going to release a TV set later this year which will come with an iRing accessory. We can’t always be sure of any analyst’s predictions, fact remains that this is the first we’ve heard of Microsoft developing its own wearable technology offering. With Google Glass already under development and rumors of Apple iWatch at an all time high, perhaps it would make sense for the Redmond based outfit to jump on the bandwagon as well.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Futuro Cube Pays Homage To Tetris And Snake, LG Avatarbook Announced,

The Financial Times is reporting that Google is making its own version of a smart watch. What’s interesting is that it’s not Google’s experimental arm X Labs developing the watch but rather Google’s Android unit. According to FT, this smart watch would be completely different from Samsung’s smart watch (which is also reportedly in development). Google’s version of the smart watch is rumored to be an extension of Android onto the wrist. More »