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Analyst goes to Taiwan, says iWatch has a round face; will be more than one model

Moto360

Rossenblatt Securities analyst Brian Blair is citing supply chain sources in Taiwan in stating that the iWatch has a round display, and is similar in design to the Moto 360 smartwatch shown above in a Motorola teaser image, but with a slimmer profile, reports Business Insider.

According to his supply chain sources, the iWatch will have a round face. Many people were expecting it to have a rectangular face, but Blair’s sources tell him it’s going to be round, like a normal watch

We first reported hints that Apple had managed to combine multiple sensors into a single chipset in order to reduce the size of the smartwatch, suggesting that talk of a slimmer profile is credible.

Blair says that there will be more than one model, possibly one for men, one for women, mirroring earlier sketchy rumors of 1.3″ and 1.7″ models. These rumors were given greater credence when generally reliable KGI Research analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said the iWatch would be sold in two sizes.

In contrast to earlier reports that the iWatch was already in production, Bair claims that the watch is due to enter production “around July/August.” It had previously been suggested that the watch would go on sale in August/September. We are not expecting the iWatch to make an appearance at WWDC.

The iWatch is expected to play a key role in Apple’s Healthbook app, with one analyst speculating that its cost could be subsidized by health insurers due to its anticipated focus on health and fitness.

Motorola has not given a specific launch date for its own Android-powered Moto 360 smartwatch, saying only that it would be released in “the summer.” The company’s teaser video for the watch can be seen below.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnerqDWwVgg]

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Comments

  1. Jason Piebes - 10 years ago

    We get leaked images for everything else… where’s an image of this “iWatch”? I’ve been a skeptic from the beginning and continue to be so. The fitbit is not a watch and would never be referred to as a watch. Here’s another point to ponder; how fun is it to have a watch with a giant dial on your wrist when you are doing push ups? If this is a health related bit of gadgetry, it certainly will not be interfering with health related exercises.

    • iPadCary - 10 years ago

      You DO have a good point there. We CONSTANTLY see leaked images of upcoming iPad frames & bezels and upcoming iPhone shells, etc., etc. Where are the leaked images of parts for this tech unicorn?

      • acslater017 - 10 years ago

        New product lines typically don’t leak, since Apple only makes a handful and keeps it under lock and key.

        Revisions leak because Apple has to make millions, or tens of millions, by the time the thing is even unveiled.

      • iPadCary - 10 years ago

        @acslater017
        Y’know, I was thinking something under similiar lines: maybe, just maybe, Apple allows these “leaks” of upcoming iStuff because these things aren’t really all that new, per se, so turning a blind eye to leaked parts images before an announcement, they’re kinda/sorta taking a guerilla-like approach to viral marketing in an attempt to drum up hype for an otherwise blasé product iteration announcement.
        Whereas with iBand, a completely new product, they want a blowaway iPhone/Pad-like reveal to the world, so ANY data about it (parts images, spec sheet, etc., etc.) is under superduperüberprotective protection. OK, MAYBE I can see something like that going on. But I don’t know, man ….

    • Agreed, but yet i am soo happy we have not seen anything yet. I want to be excited. For everything on WWDC this year i have tried not to open it or even read the headlines. I have tried to not look at every iPhone 6 mock up/shell this year too. The shells though thankfully do not look correct/good enough so i am happy for those on the ones i have seen.
      So yes i agreed but i am glad we haven’t seen it yet. I kinda miss the excitement i used to get when i was younger and before i started reading from these sites when the iPhone 4 was found months before announcement.

    • Luke O' Sullivan - 10 years ago

      There’s probably larger security surrounding the iWatch.

      Everyone knows the basic form of any iPhone that will ever be released – a rectangle with a screen taking up most of the front side.

      However, with the iWatch: will it be rounded, square, a band, a watch, what will it be made of, how big will it be (one or two sizes?), colour etc etc etc

      Since its a new product category, I have near to no doubt it will almost all be kept secret until the official announcement.

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      They don’t leak thanks to the fact that they usually announce months before production begins.

    • Martin Novosad - 10 years ago

      Have we seen any leaks for the latest Mac Pro?

      • Jack Gnasty - 10 years ago

        Different. That is manufactured here in the states.

  2. Lee (@leemahi) - 10 years ago

    I hope it checks all my vitals from my wrist. That would, dare I say it, CHANGE THE WORLD!

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      It would change your behaviour. Technology is great and useful, but so is a lack of tech. We’d need balance. I agree with Apple’s now VP of retail, she said the more we progress technologically the more the old ways and the old values will become important.

  3. tilalabubakr - 10 years ago

    Great, the thin round design is more appealing. The challenge for Apple is fitting its OS in such a casing.
    As for Healthbook, I think it’s going to be announced with iPhone 6 and iWatch because most of its features -I think- are related to the watch, and it is going to be an exclusive feature for iPhone 6, but I hope I’m wrong on this one though.

    • Ed D (@MochaChai) - 10 years ago

      I think the challenge is getting a reasonably capacious battery in there myself. Especially if it is to be thinner than the Moto 360.

    • I have a feeling that the iWatch will work the best with the iPhone 6 but remember the M7 chip in the iPhone 5S? I think it will be compatible with the 5S but not to the full extent.

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      Healthbook might also work with third party products, and therefore could be announced at a non-iWatch event such as WWDC.

  4. iPadCary - 10 years ago

    Whatever ….
    Just so long as it comes out in 2014.
    Which it better.
    By the way, if sneak previews of iOS 8 & OSX 10 are all we have
    to look forward to for WWDC14, then it’s shaping up to be a real snoozefest.

    • rogifan - 10 years ago

      Um WWDC is a developer conference. It’s supposed to be about software. If you’re expecting some magical new gadget to be announced there them expect to be disappointed.

      • iPadCary - 10 years ago

        Yeah, I guess you have a point there. ’Cause things like an iPhone would NEVER be announced at a WWD– Oh, that’s right ….

      • gregzx - 10 years ago

        The iPhone was originally introduced at MacWorld San Francisco, which is NOT a developers’ conference, more like a general trade show. Try checking simple facts before you mouth off.

      • iPadCary - 10 years ago

        Not THE iPhone. I said A iPhone. I suggest you follow your own rude advice.

  5. Some time in March I ordered a Pebble Steel and it’s… Still on backorder. If Apple should announce the iWatch at WWDC then I will be canceling my Pebble order if it… Still hasn’t shipped yet.

    • iPadCary - 10 years ago

      Welcome to the world according to Pebble. Thier CS is atrociously. horrendously bad.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        I bet it’s not as bad as 12 South’s international system. Offered a Bookbook for my MacBook Air and it arrived 4 months after I sold my Air; 11 months after charging my credit card.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        *ordered

  6. Stacy Scott - 10 years ago

    How will an insurance company pay for this thing. I can’t even get them to pay legit medical expenses.

    • Jack Gnasty - 10 years ago

      So by your own inference, this would be an illegitimate expense. In this age of out-of-control healthcare costs, why in hell would you ever expect an insurance company to pay for something like this?

      • iPadCary - 10 years ago

        Because it’s the decent thing to do? It’s nice to be nice!

  7. chrisvegasiscrazy - 10 years ago

    I hate this look. Why would I want this new high tech 2014 watch to look like a old clunky watch? Samsung has done this with there dumb commercial of all these old shows using clunky watches then they brag they are bringing it to us. Yuck. I won’t even want a watch if it looks like this. I want curved glass, thin around wrist. Something nobody has seen before something that looks totally different. There is no reason why you can’t make it look like jewelry and not a watch that’s been around forever. It’s weak imagination to use a classic clock look for a Iwatch it should look futuristic, and different and it should wow people. A basic watch look like shown above will flop.

    • Habip Kenan Üsküdar - 10 years ago

      I don’t want a watch, be it with or without an “i” prefix.

      Neither do I want a device which only works as a crappy companion likes of which other companies are trying to shove down our throats.

      I want a device with the innards of a flagship phone of today with the screen size of an iPod Nano (7th gen) that fits just right on wrist with cellular network communication integrated into it.

      If I need a bigger screen I can just use my tablet or notebook.

      If I wanted a jewel; be it a pin on my shirt or tie, perhaps a ring, or a watch that would cost me the price of a secondhand compact RV, I perhaps would have bought one.

      I only want a device that will be the next portable (Those ludicrous 5″+ phones are far away from being it) device that will replace smartphones.

      We may not have seen it but I believe this is the next big thing we are waiting for not these watch-imitating abominations that lack the basic functionalities of what we use as our phones today.

    • Go design a watch first before knocking them. Also, these are rumors and not the real thing..

      • Habip Kenan Üsküdar - 10 years ago

        I am designing something for sure, but its not a watch.

        Though, I don’t have the money to manufacture it.

        Heck if the stars would align to have it marketed under as an Apple product, it would be called the iBrace.

        And, its slogan would be “Embrace iBrace”.

  8. If the iWatch is half as sexy as the Moto360(Which I’m sure it will be) in anyway… I’m in! Hopefully I can track my heart rate, Nike Fuel and other stuff I’ll be ok. Also, I wish they have a nice line of stylish bands or let you just use your own with it.

  9. drtyrell969 - 10 years ago

    Maybe we can bring back round Polo eyewear while we’re at it! Oh wait, that’s already been done by the former CTO of Adobe. Scratch that.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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