back to article Apple iWatch: Coming soon, runs iOS, to earn mucho mazuma

Reminiscent of the hypegasm that preceded the releases of the iPhone in 2007 and iPad in 2010, rumors of Apple's impending "iWatch" are flooding the intertubes, with the latest being that it will be released this year, will run iOS, and will rake in gobs and gobs of cash for a company that has seen its stock take a relentless …

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  1. Darryl

    "luxury-watch biz"

    Magical and revolutionary as these holy watches may be, I don't think that any ridiculously rich person is going to trade in their Girard Perregaux for one.

    1. andreas koch
      Childcatcher

      Re: "luxury-watch biz"

      Well, it will depend if companies like GP, Cartier, IWC have the lawyers to defend themselves against the IP lawsuits for stealing the invention of " a portable device, in a removable way attached to a limb or other body part, serving the purpose of displaying curtailed information of or about one or more types of data".

      Get your Rolex now, it might be outlawed next year.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "luxury-watch biz"

      You mean my Patel-Philippe don't you?

      1. Anonymous Custard

        Re: "luxury-watch biz"

        Or if it were a real one, perhaps a Patek-Philippe? :)

      2. ItsNotMe
        Coat

        "You mean my Patel-Philippe don't you?"

        No...that one is made in India. Not at Foxconn in China.

        Mine's the one that smells like Curry.

  2. tonysmith

    Doesn't this already exist?

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

    except this one works with both iOS and android

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      In fairness...

      As a Pebble owner, I have to say that right now, Pebble isn't quite living up to its promise, since the SDK has not yet shipped. The Pebble will still give you the alerts from your phone, but much of what was promised is not yet available.

      So it is a bit of a horse race between when Pebble will ship the SDK, and Apple will ship their device.

      That said: right now, all the promise for the iWatch are about like the Dilbert cartoon (http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/1993-12-13/?Page=2): "And our product has a thirty terabit RAM cache [...] and it is capable of detecting tachion [sic] field emissions [....]".

      1. ItsNotMe
        FAIL

        Re: In fairness...

        "The Pebble will still give you the alerts from your phone,..."

        Seriously? You really need to have a wrist divice to tell you that you have alerts on your phone? How completely asinine.

        Another P.T. Barnum moment.

  3. FanniM

    I like the idea of the watch, but think the glasses could be dangerous.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's a BUY and soon to be seen from Samsung no doubt...?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Rounded corners

      Lets hope Apple's watch doesn't resemble any watch design that's already been done before, that would be hypocrisy.

      As for Samsung marketing one, it's not as if it was Apple's idea in the first place. They still havn't actually 'invented' anything to date.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Samsung already rumoured

      There are plenty of rumours and pundit commentary and pictures as well of the as yet unseen secret Samsung watch.

      This is not an Apple phenomenon, it is Tech Journalism making up news as usual.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Samsung already rumoured

        Samsung actually released it's first true smarphone wristwatch back in 2009 - S9110. They've been showing weird and wonderful physical PoCs for ages - and already manufacture millions of non-smart watches.

  5. Mr Young
    Coat

    Watch?

    Keeps time and I can see it in the dark - now that is a UI. Must go shopping...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Hmm, sounds like the Xperia Smartwatches

    ..... from several years back.....

    http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/products/accessories/smartwatch/

    1. abcdgoldfish

      Re: Hmm, sounds like the Xperia Smartwatches

      WIMM had a watch which apparently ran a minimal Android.

      They were funded by Foxconn and recently went back into stealth.

      1. Philomena Cunk
        FAIL

        Re: Hmm, sounds like the Xperia Smartwatches

        SO yes again, Apple's innovation seems to be just copying Android and pretending it's new...

        This is going to go down so well with the iFans and iInvesters.

  7. AverageBloke
    Devil

    iWatch, gGlass... /no/ Parker

    It had never struck me that iCoolios might really aspire to the sort of costume jewellery that Lady Penelope wouldn't be seen dead wearing. But I'm neither a product of Gerry and Sylvia Andersons' imaginations nor a 'creative', so how would I know?

  8. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Coat

    Watches? We don' need no steenkin' watches!

    I thought the "hipster" generation had stopped buying watches these days now they all have "cool" smartphones with clock displays on them?

    Coat. The one with the fob chain.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...create something totally new like they did with the iPod"

    I think it's becoming a bit of an inside joke. (snicker)

    1. Philip 5
      Thumb Up

      Re: "...create something totally new like they did with the iPod"

      I think it's fair to say the iPod was new compared with what had been around up until then. It completely redefined the category and destroyed its competitors.

      1. ratfox
        Angel

        Re: "...create something totally new like they did with the iPod"

        See also the iPhone, and the iPad. Though they might have got ideas from many other products, whether they were superior in vision, execution or marketing, they became the products every other was compared to.

        Now, it may be too early to tell, but I have the highest doubts that the iWatch will do the same.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bah, humbug

    I guess if you live in a country that is enveloped in perpetual gloom, then an OLED or LCD watch might be viable.

    Here in Australia, mobile phone displays are invisible in bright sunlight, and I can't imagine that a watch with the same property would be very popular. Also, there is not much room in a watch for a large battery, so the only display that makes any kind of sense is electronic paper technology (as used in e-book readers), which are visible in bright sunlight, and draw very little current.

    In addition, there is no need for a watch to do any more that drive a display, accept user inputs, and communicate with a remote processor. That can be done with a tiny 8 bit micro controller that draws very little current, and doesn't even need a scheduler, let alone a full blown operating system. The job could be done with not much more RAM than is required to buffer the (monochrome) display image, and in theory doesn't even require a scheduler. The suggestion that a full blown operating system should be included is absurd.

    Interestingly, it will share a trait that mechanical watches have - when the battery goes flat, it will only show the correct time twice a day.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bah, humbug

      They could licence that "kinetic" technology that charges a battery?

      1. Aulty

        Re: Bah, humbug

        Haven't Citizen already done that with their eco kinetic thingy watches.

    2. frank ly

      Re: Bah, humbug

      A small colour e-ink display should be easy enough to manufacture, maybe with a limited colour set. The relatively low number of pixels would give a reasonable frame refresh rate for information display. They might even be able to adequately display the moving second-hand of a clock so that you could have a continuous time indicator on your wrist. That would be quite an achievement.

  11. We're all in it together

    But

    Where the hell will the mouse plug in?

  12. ukgnome
    Trollface

    I will only be interested if they create a smart ipocket watch and Google monocle.

    A gentleman has standards after all.

  13. Frankee Llonnygog

    OLED - schmo-led

    Wake me up when someone makes a computerised watch with clockwork-driven mechanical pixels (not too bling, please - I've sworn off Swarovski)

  14. Anthony Hulse

    Avon to Liberator, two to teleport

    Do we get to talk into our wrists then?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Got an iPad, iPhone iPod, Apple mac, Apple TV and next the iWatch.

    But ultimately need a life!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      but surely you already have iLife on your mac, no?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pros and cons...

    Pro: the kinetic wrist energy produced from a fanboi after visitng the Apple store will keep one charged for months..

    Con: their rapidly deteriorating eyesight, caused by that wrist action, will render the watch screen unreadable.

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