Ladies and Gentleman, Samsung has shown their hand regarding a smart watch. They have registered a patent in both South Korea and the US for a device that is for all intensive purposes a smart watch.
A few interesting observations on this patent application:
Samsung has clearly decided to use the Galaxy as their flagship range. They have the Galaxy S range and all the various versions of that (Galaxy Mini, Galaxy Note and the Galaxy smart camera). The extension into Galaxy Gear makes a lot of sense. The brand extension that Samsung has done in the last 12 months has definitely helped with their quest to become the dominant cellphone manufacturer globally.
They have become the first main stream business to actually have in-depth sketches of their smart watch. Needless to say I suspect industrial designers at Apple, Google and Sony might be having an in-depth look at the patent filings.
The smart watch vertical is going to be very interesting as the manufacturers are going to have to create a need for the device. Think about it, most customers buying a smart watch will own a smart phone manufactured by the respective companies. In the case of Apple, is the smart watch going to be functional with the iPhone or the iPod? At the moment there are many possibilities that exist for these products but I wonder if this aimed at a launch before the festive season?
