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With the rumor mill working overtime on Apple's iOS smartwatch, Samsung is determined not to get left behind in the fledgling wearable smartphone market. Lee Young Hee, Samsung’s executive vice president of mobile business, told Bloomberg: “We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long. We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
Just last month, it was reported that Apple had assembled a team of about 100 people to develop its own wristwatch iOS device, a move that presumably may have had an impact on the timing of Lee's disclosure. While it isn't the first time Samsung has dipped its toe in the waters of the wearable phone pool, this announcement does mark a potentially more viable entry into the market, which is currently blossoming with the news Apple's smartwatch developments and the success of Pebble's Kickstarter campaign.
The hurdle facing Samsung - and Apple - is balancing functionality, price, and design. Affordability will no doubt be a considerable factor in the success or failure of forthcoming smartwatches and in order for a device to succeed, people will actually want to be seen wearing it. The look of Samsung's S9910, which debuted in 2009, met with generally positive reviews, but the exorbitant price made it inaccessible to most consumers.
The unprecedented success of Pebble's Kickstarter might have opened a few eyes to the possibility of a new market developing. Though many users have abandoned wristwatches in favor of checking the time on their mobile phones, the fact that a crowd-sourced funding drive garnered over $10 million in pledges signaled that there was a sizable demand for a wearable device that delivered the functionality of a smartphone in an even smaller package. With Samsung and Apple jockeying for a place at the head of the pack, the future of smartwatches seems increasingly more assured.
Just last month, it was reported that Apple had assembled a team of about 100 people to develop its own wristwatch iOS device, a move that presumably may have had an impact on the timing of Lee's disclosure. While it isn't the first time Samsung has dipped its toe in the waters of the wearable phone pool, this announcement does mark a potentially more viable entry into the market, which is currently blossoming with the news Apple's smartwatch developments and the success of Pebble's Kickstarter campaign.
The hurdle facing Samsung - and Apple - is balancing functionality, price, and design. Affordability will no doubt be a considerable factor in the success or failure of forthcoming smartwatches and in order for a device to succeed, people will actually want to be seen wearing it. The look of Samsung's S9910, which debuted in 2009, met with generally positive reviews, but the exorbitant price made it inaccessible to most consumers.
The unprecedented success of Pebble's Kickstarter might have opened a few eyes to the possibility of a new market developing. Though many users have abandoned wristwatches in favor of checking the time on their mobile phones, the fact that a crowd-sourced funding drive garnered over $10 million in pledges signaled that there was a sizable demand for a wearable device that delivered the functionality of a smartphone in an even smaller package. With Samsung and Apple jockeying for a place at the head of the pack, the future of smartwatches seems increasingly more assured.
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