More details are emerging about Apple’s rumored ‘iWatch”. The watch, said to be targeted for release later this year, is reported by Bloomberg to be a pet project of Apple design head Jony Ive.
That’s perfectly in line with what we’ve heard about the watch project, which we’re told is being led by Ive himself with some 100 engineers under him. Interestingly, we’re also told that Apple’s chosen to rework the full iOS to run on the watch instead of building up the iPod nano’s proprietary touch operating system — although the previous nano was already watch-sized and seemed like a great starting point for a wrist-sized device, Apple’s betting on iOS across product lines.
Verge sources report that the iOS feature is leading to battery life issues, with prototypes currently only lasting “a couple of days max,” while the target battery life is 4-5 days between charges. The sources also say that Apple still needs to do some work with iOS on the iPhone, which has several “hooks” for supporting a watch, but lacks the proper interface or settings to make it all work.
Financial experts are grabbing onto the watch rumors as a growth opportunity for Apple, as the much rumored television project seems to be fading.
We’ll keep our eyes open for any more information about the watch project and report as we learn more.
