Can Apple create a smartwatch that customers actually want?

APPLE is ready to join Google, Samsung and a host of startups making smartwatches — but do consumers even like them?

An artist's idea of what an Apple iWatch might look like. Picture: Todd Hamilton, toddham.com/blog/iwatch-concept.

APPLE is ready to join Google, Samsung and a host of startups making smartwatches and, potentially, other wearable computing devices.

But it isn’t clear how much consumers want the devices. Those on the market so far haven’t sold well, because most wearable devices only offer a limited set of features already found on a smartphone.

Apple is planning multiple versions of its smartwatch — dubbed the iWatch in the media — later this year, according to tech insiders.

The devices are likely to include more than 10 sensors to track and monitor health and fitness data and Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc. is expected to start producing them in two to three months.

As growth in smartphones and tablet computers slows, Apple and others are considering wearable devices as an enticing new market. Smaller sensors, flexible screens and ubiquitous wireless connectivity have the potential to usher in a new era of computing where all devices will become “smart”, collecting and processing data from daily life.

So far, that hasn’t led to big sales. Worldwide shipments of wearable devices — including smartwatches and activity trackers — totalled about 2.9 million units in the first quarter, according to ABI Research. That is about 1 per cent of the 300 million smartphones shipped during the same period. Apple said it alone sold 43.7 million iPhones in that quarter.

Some industry watchers think Apple, with its record of success in defining new product segments with the iPhone and iPad, will crack the code.

Apple’s ability to design both hardware and software gives it an advantage over competitors because it can present a cohesive vision for a new product, said Nick Spencer, an analyst at ABI Research.

A source at one of Apple’s component suppliers said the California company expects to ship 10 million to 15 million smartwatches this year. By comparison, Apple sold 1.1 million iPhones in the first quarter it was available in 2007.

“We haven’t really seen the big players come out with their best shot,” said J.P. Gownder, an analyst at Forrester Research. “No one has done anything completely serious.”

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined to comment.

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook, who has pledged to push the company into new product segments this year, sees wearable technology as an area worth exploring.

“There are lots of gadgets in this space right now, but there’s nothing great out there,” Mr Cook said at a conference last year. “There are a lot of problems to solve in this space.”

The new details of Apple’s plans come ahead of Google’s I/O conference for developers next week in San Francisco, where wearable devices are expected to be a major focus.

Earlier this year, Google introduced Android Wear, a version of its Android operating system for wearables.

LG Electronics Inc. and Motorola — the unit that Google agreed to sell to Lenovo Group Inc. for nearly $3 billion — are expected to introduce watches running on Android Wear later this year.

Samsung used Android for its first Galaxy Gear smartwatch launched last year, but switched to Tizen, its homegrown operating system, for its second version, the Gear 2.

Google’s ambitions in wearable devices go beyond the wrist. Google Glass, the company’s web-connected eyewear, has garnered a lot of attention, some of it negative because of privacy concerns. The company also is working on a smart contact lens, which it hopes will measure blood-sugar levels of diabetes sufferers by monitoring their tears.

Already rivals in smartphone software, Apple and Google are expected to battle to control the health-related data collected by wearables. Earlier this month, Apple announced HealthKit, a system to collect and share data from various third-party wearable devices and apps. It also announced an app called Health to monitor that data on the iPhone. Google is expected to follow suit with a similar service at its conference next week.

Despite the hype around wearable devices, mainstream adoption has been slow. The best-selling devices are activity trackers such as the Fitbit Force, Jawbone Up, Garmin Vivofit and Nike Inc.’s FuelBand. Earlier this year, Nike announced layoffs at the division responsible for the FuelBand, sparking speculation that the product wasn’t selling well.

Omar Siddiqui, chief executive of Kiwi, a developer of mobile games for Android and Apple’s iOS, suggested that looking at today’s sales is misleading because the applications that will attract users haven’t been created yet.

“There are so many other use cases that we may not have thought of yet,” he said.

ABI Research’s Mr Spencer said applications will emerge once component-makers produce parts designed specifically for wearable products — rather than repurposed smartphone parts — to allow more design options.

He said there is too much focus on the watch, while the true potential of wearable devices is in the data that they collect, not necessarily in the shape of the hardware.

Earlier this year, Intel Corp. Chief Executive Brian Krzanich unveiled a major push into wearable technology, showing off prototypes of new wearable devices developed by the company including a smartwatch and a smart earphone headset. He also announced a new chip called Edison aimed at wearable gadgets.

“We’re looking at a broad ecosystem of wearables,” Mr Krzanich said in a speech at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas.

Apple has hired designers, engineers and executives from the fashion industry and medical device world to work on its forthcoming smartwatch, it has been reported. It is also thought that company has been working on ways to use advanced sensors to track a person’s blood pressure and hydration levels.

Recent hires include Michael O’Reilly, former chief medical officer of Masimo Corp., which makes a finger-sized device to measure oxygen in the blood without drawing blood. In December, Mr O’Reilly accompanied senior Apple executives to a meeting at the US Food and Drug Administration regarding “mobile medical applications.”