Apple Said to Have Team Developing Wristwatch Computer
Apple Inc. has a team of about 100 product designers working on a wristwatch-like device that may perform some of the computing tasks now handled by the iPhone and iPad, two people familiar with the company's plans said.
Context & Ripple Effects
The report reinforces the curved-glass smartwatch claim from two days earlier, turning a design rumor into a more specific account of internal staffing. It arrives while Apple’s iPhone models hold three of the five leading U.S. mobile-phone sales positions in Q4 2012, making any accessory that takes on phone or tablet tasks strategically meaningful.
First-order effects
- If accurate, the reported 100-person design team commits Apple resources to a wrist-based device intended to extend some iPhone and iPad computing functions.
Second-order effects
- A wrist companion would make the iPhone and iPad more central as the devices supplying the tasks, software, and user relationship that the smaller screen cannot replace.
Third-order effects
- If Apple’s reported work becomes a product strategy rather than an experiment, personal computing would move toward wearable form factors where industrial design and daily wearability matter alongside specifications.
The trend: The story is an early signal of fashionized computing: established mobile platforms seeking additional screens that stay closer to the user than a phone or tablet.