Apple’s Smartwatch: A Smartphone Successor?

Wearable computing devices were the talk of the CES this year, with companies like Adidas, Motorola (NYSE:MSI), and Nike (NYSE:NKE) expecting to ship 90 million units by 2017. Will Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) be the next to jump on the bandwagon?

“The overall trend is that computing is diversifying,” observes Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, “and the body is the next frontier for computing. It would seem strange for Apple to have no goal in shaping what that next phase of computing looks like.”

And reports suggest that Apple is, in fact, working on a smartwatch that could be connected to one’s iPhone, allowing for convenient remote operation.

This style of watch is in high demand, as evidenced by the tremendously successful Kickstarter campaign for Pebble, which happens to be iPhone-compatible, and Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) much-buzzed-about Android-only smartwatches. To the many people who cringe when their dinner companions are glued to their smartphones: it might not be long before checking your email becomes as socially acceptable as simply glancing at your watch…

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