Apple Said To Be Working On a 'Watch-Like Device'

The WSJ reports that Apple is "experimenting with designs for a watch-like device that would perform some functions of a smartphone, according to people briefed on the effort." An excerpt: The company has discussed such a device with its major manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., one of these people said, as part of explorations of potentially large product categories beyond the smartphone and tablet. Apple's efforts come as companies have introduced various kinds of wearable gadgets, mainly designed to measure physical activity. More sophisticated devices face big technical challenges, but also are attracting investments from large technology companies. Foxconn, as Hon Hai is also known, has been working on a spate of technologies that could be used in wearable devices, one of these people said. In particular, the Taiwan-based company has been working to address the challenges of making displays more power-efficient and working with chip manufacturers to strip down their products."

The iWatch

[Anonymous Coward]

Kind of like this? http://getpebble.com/

Much better read

[b1ng0]

Tog has a better take on the iWatch: http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/ [asktog.com]

Re:The iWatch

[Ruprecht the Monkeyb]

I've only had my Pebble for a few days, but I'm finding it pretty convenient when I'm out and about. A lot quicker when I'm walking somewhere, or on the subway, to glance at my wrist to see if I need to respond to an email right away or if it can wait. And the (currently) rudimentary music controls are convenient, too. It's still in a primitive state, but hopefully the developer community will come up with some killer apps for it. Time will tell if it becomes useful enough to survive past the toy stage and become a regular fixture on my arm.

Re:And I should give a rat's ass...

[node 3]

Foxconn and Hon Hai are manufacturers (like the summary says). Apple (and other tech companies) work with them the same way you'd work with, say, a metal foundry somewhere to have them manufacture some parts you've designed. The main reason for this is you can't just invent something (especially technology), and just ask people to build it for you, they need to be able to.

So, this wrist-contoured glass. It sounds like Foxconn has been working on a new process for this, and have been looking for a way to get customers to pay them to build stuff for them using it. In this case, working with Apple to work it into a new watch.

The engineering for the watch itself will be all Apple. The engineering behind how to manufacture it will be a collaboration between Apple and Foxconn (or whoever), the same way Apple (and everyone else) has always done it. This is similar to how the processes for manufacturing the unibody aluminum enclosures and the iPhone 5 parts matching system was developed.

What you're thinking is a private label system, with some companies engage in (not Apple), where you might see the exact same product that gets labeled with different brands from different companies, similar to how some store brands (especially food and household supplies) are done.