In February it was reported that Apple was experimenting with and developing a watch-like device to add to its line of iDevices. This was no ordinary watch, though. Apple was using its cutting edge glass manufacturing knowledge to come up with a curved glass smartwatch that has more in common with a wristband than a typical watch design. Furthermore, it was being designed to run iOS and a limited set of functionality such a form factor would allow.
Of course, Apple didn’t comment on such speculation at the time, but now we have more concrete evidence such a watch is in development.
It has been revealed that Apple filed a trademark in Japan on June 3 for the name “iWatch.” That filing was made public late last week by the Japanese Patent Office. Apple also made the application under a category that covered both computers and watch-like devices.
Such a filing makes it hard for the company to deny a watch-like device is now in development. They could argue this is just a defensive application in order to protect the name iWatch from use by another company, but it seems much more likely Apple wants to own our wrists and place another iDevice on them that works in conjunction with an iPhone or iPod device.
If it turns out Apple is set to release an iWatch, others are sure to follow. Samsung is already heading in that direction, we have the Pebble smartwatch, and no doubt Android-based watches are being experimented with at Google. Soon we may not even need to take our smartphones out of a pocket, instead relying on a smartwatch to control it.
