EXCLUSIVE: Apple, Swatch working collectively 'iWatch'

Apple continues to be working with a minumum of one partner, Swatch, to release a line of smartwatches in assortment of price points and branded styles, a source with knowledge of the situation tells VentureBeat. While most Apple-watchers and media have been laser-focused on one or two "iWatches" from Apple itself, the Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics and media giant may truly be working a number of associates in the watch business. The tech giant is thinking about shoving Apple's iOS, iTunes, and Health Kit ecosystems to countless wrists, our source says; and in this case it is not particular about sharing the glory that is branding to do so. The Swatch Group, it turns out, has come along way since selling us those goofy plastic wrist adornments. This also suggests the possibility that Swatch could be constructing one or more Apple smartwatches that bear only the Apple brand. Timex already has an Ironman brand of fitness watches, which can be very compatible with an exercise watch which contains multiple biometric sensors in the group, as VentureBeat reported earlier which Apple seems to be developing. Like recent smartwatches from Motorola, and Samsung, LG, the smartwatches Apple will rely greatly on smartphones and content and is building with associates will include no cellular radio, our source says. The watches, our source considers, will rely on Bluetooth -power and smartphones to link. Nike fitness tracking technology has been built by the company into iPhones and its iPods, as an example. But fashion not only tech, Behind the venture strategy is a realistic acknowledgement of the market for technology that is wearable. Smartwatches, Apple understands, aren't simply another tech gadget. They're fashion statements, jewelry. C mens nike free 5.0 v4 black white.nsumers buy watches, smartwatches comprised, like they buy dresses or shoes -- they expect to be able to select from a wide selection of products to locate the one that suits their personal style. One-size- fits just won't cut on it. Individuals will often purchase the blingiest thing they could afford. Apple, obviously, has almost no experience with these dilemmas. So it sensibly is working with partners to construct and promote the apparatus. "It makes sense that they would try to work with existing brands," Greengart says. "And the fact they have been getting people from high-end goods brands to work on the job would seem to back up the notion that they're working with other brands." Indeed, Apple has hired several luxurious goods executives in the last year. Mainstream trend brand Burberry's CEO Angela Ahrendts last October was also hired by Apple, ostensibly to work with Apple's retail stores. Greengart points out that these and other fashion industry individuals might happen to be hired to work along with smartwatches' retail plans, on App nike free 5.0 v4.e's own itself. But discover that Pruniaux is an engineer, not a designer or a sales and marketing guy. Apple may have desired Pruniaux's name to help advance the Apple brand in the retail trend world. Reaching mass adoption Despite the partnerships, our source points out that Apple may also be developing smartwatches or a smartwatch that will have its own branding exclusively. So the iWatch may be real, after all. As Gartner analyst Van Baker has pointed out, confining one's efforts to constructing an individual detector-load health and fitness apparatus isn't a means to take the marketplace by storm. Only a sliver of the market would even contemplate buying a device like that. Apple is worried about reaching (and hanging on to) a mass-market audience, and to reach a broad variety of consumers it'll most likely need the help of some watch brands that are well entrenched. So the iWatch, if it's called that, might hit the market alongside others that may even include Apple's technology and are compatible with Apple's Health Kit, or watches from Swatch, Timex. Neither Apple, Timex, nor Swatch reacted to requests for opinion by noon Pacific Time Wednesday.