Sansung Steps Up in Wearable Technology, Confirms to Create a Smart Watch

Samsung to Make Smart Watch, Let the Wearable Tech Wars Begin

Getting ahead of Apple in the wearable technology game, Samsung announces it will be developing a smart watch.

Wearable technology seems to be a thing these days. In fact, a number of companies are placing their bets that it will be the next  big trend in the market. Google has already take its lead when it introduced Google Glasses and there are rumors swirling around that Apple is on the works of a smart watch.

 While there is a lot of speculations going on about Apple's entry in the wearable technology market through its supposed iWatch technology, its rival, Samsung has just stepped out and confirmed that they are working on a smart watch.

Prepping Up for the Future

Samsung's mobile business executive vice president, Lee Young Hee told Bloomberg today (March 19, 2013) that they are already preparing products for their future lines, and a watch is definitely included in their list.

According to one analyst cited by Bloomberg, the global watch industry is anticipated to grow more than $60 billion in sales for this year. As such, it is no surprise that a number of tech companies are vying to get a share of the market by creating watches that are not only capable of telling time, but can also run applications the same way as smart phones do. In fact, it can be recalled that tech startup Pebble had raised over $10 million over at Kickstarter and managed to enter the market this year. They introduced Pebble watch which supports a number of applications and features an e-paper screen that can be linked to an iOS or Android device.

Apple, on the other, has been rumored to have a team of 100 product designers working on their smart watch which many believe will run on an iOS operating system and will have the same features as that of the iPhone and iPad.

With such increased interest in smart watch technology, the South Korean electronic giant's announcement is somehow expected. However, Samsung would not provide further details as to what their smart watch would look like, what features it will have, how much it will cost and when it will be launched, though Lee noted that they they have been working on their wristwatch project for quite some time now and patents can back up such assertion. 

A battle of time, features, and price

Although Apple will not confirm whether or not they working on a smart watch, Lee believe that if their biggest competitor is indeed cooking up something, then it is a matter of who will be the first to  commercialize the product to the consumers.

However, if Samsung would really want to get an edge against Apple when it comes to wearable technology, they should not just focus on releasing earlier, but they have to make sure that they actually make the device wearable while incorporating solid features that people can use and sell it at a price that people can afford. If Samsung will rush its wristwatch project, experts fear that it could suffer the same trouble that Sony encountered with its smart watch product released last year.

What feature would you like to see on Samsung's smart watch? And do you think it will make sense for the consumer segment?