Apple iWatch to Run on iOS 6: Release Date in 2013?
Apple has the ability to reposition itself at the top of the market once again with the new iWatch, which may debut later this year. The watch would likely run on a simplified version of iOS 6 and could mass billions of dollars.
It was not that long ago that Apple introduced customers to the iPhone, a new smart phone concept that forever altered what consumers expected from their phones. The invention launched Apple into a class of its own, but competitors like Samsung soon followed suit.
In need of a new, untapped market, Apple appears to exploring a new a whole new invention. This one is a wrist watch that functions in conjunction with the iPad and iPhone. The company has filed at least 79 patents containing the word "wrist," according to a Bloomberg report. A key feature in those patents includes a flexible screen powered by kinetic energy.
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"This can be a $6 billion opportunity for Apple, with plenty of opportunity for upside if they create something totally new like they did with the iPod -- something consumers didn't even know they needed," Citigroup Inc. analyst Oliver Chen, who covers luxury- goods retailers, told Bloomberg.
Different than the iPod Nano, the new watch would likely run off a simplified iOS 6, offering more complex options to consumers. Other features could include the ability to answer calls, caller ID, limited GPS, and a pedometer.
"There's no doubt the wrist is a valuable piece of convenient, glanceable real estate for viewing essential information," Scott Wilson, a watch designer, said in an interview with Bloomberg. "It'd be great to see information like, 'Where are we meeting for lunch?'"
The introduction of the iWatch could be more profitable to Apple than its highly-anticipated television, with the ability to gross over $3 bililon.
