Samsung to pip Apple to the post in race to launch a smartwatch

Last updated: August 16, 2013 10:51 pm

Samsung to pip Apple to the post in race to launch a smartwatch

By Tim Bradshaw in San Francisco and Simon Mundy in Seoul

Samsung is set to pip Apple to the post in the race to bring a new wearable device to market, as the Korean electronics company prepares to launch a smartwatch early next month. According to several people familiar with its plans, Samsung will launch the “Galaxy Gear” smartwatch in early September, ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin. Samsung declined to comment. Apple, meanwhile, has been hiring aggressively for the iWatch in recent months but is not expected to reveal the device until next year.It remains to be seen whether either company can overcome challenges in usability, screen size and battery life that previous smartwatches have suffered from.

While it was not the first mobile phone to offer web browsing or apps, Apple’s debut of the iPhone in 2007 led to the huge growth of the smartphone market, which the two companies now dominate. In high-end mobile devices as in tablets, Samsung has tended to be a rapid follower to Apple’s lead, a tactic that has contributed to the bitter patent battles between the two companies.

In wearable computing, seen by some as the next big trend in mobile devices, Samsung may seize an advantage over its rival – and components customer – if it can convince consumers that they want such a gadget. Earlier smartwatches, such as Sony’s SmartWatch and Microsoft’s Spot watch, have struggled to do so.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s late co-founder, excelled at educating a new market and creating lust among consumers. Some Apple observers, including this week Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive and a close friend of Jobs, have raised concerns that the company may struggle to produce new innovations without his leadership and product insights.

While it is not yet clear what exactly the iWatch will do, Samsung’s Galaxy Gear issaid to show messages and notifications from a tethered smartphone. The device will have more in common with smartwatches by start-ups such as the Pebble or MetaWatch, than wearable fitness devices such as Fitbit, Nike’s Fuelband or Jawbone’s Up.

Daniel Kim, an analyst at Macquarie, said that Samsung’s smartwatch will “definitely become available in the near future”. But he added that an anticipated flurry of smartwatch launches in the coming months, from companies including Samsung, Apple and Sony, would have a much smaller impact than the arrival of smartphones and tablet devices.

“Telecoms provided heavy subsidies for the early smartphones, leading to the proliferation of that market, but I’m not sure they will provide any subsidies for the smartwatches,” he said. Customer demand may also be restricted by the limitations of a screen likely to be no bigger than 1.8 inches, he added.

“I don’t think Samsung has high expectations on this one. But just having this kind of thought-provoking product in the market earlier [than competitors] will be good enough, even if it only sells 1m units.”

A Samsung executive said earlier this year that it was planning to release a smartwatch, without providing a timetable. Its September launch was earlier reported by Bloomberg.