The well-connected and reliable John Paczkowski of Re/code reports this afternoon that Apple is slated to announce its first wearable device in October. While noting that things can certainly change between now and the fall, Paczkowski claims that October is the tentative date in which Apple hopes to host a special event to show off its first wearable device.
The report does not specifically mention the oft-rumored iWatch as the product that Apple will introduce, but that is one of the devices that the company has been speculated to release for the past several months. The wearable device that Apple does release will reportedly make good use of the Health and HealthKit platforms that the company unveiled at its WWDC keynote earlier this week.
This report corroborates at least part of what Japanese business newspaper Nikkei told us a few hours ago, which was that a watch-like wearable device, likely with a curved OLED screen, is slated for an October launch. Our own Christian Zibreg covered that report, claiming that the device will likely be “outfitted with a curved display which uses power-efficient OLED screen technology,” as opposed to the traditional LCD panels found on current Apple devices.
Nikkei reported that Apple is anticipating strong demand for this watch-like device, with plans to manufacture between three to five million units of the device per month; for perspective, that is more than the total global sales of watch-like devices last year. The publication also claims that Apple has reached a partnership with Nike, noting that the two companies have likely reached an agreement to integrate their services in the future.
If you were looking for a telltale sign that Apple might be working on its own wearable device, look no further than iTunes chief Eddy Cue. The senior executive at Apple was interviewed at Code Conference just a few weeks ago, and he seemed a lot more optimistic than usual. “Later this year, we’ve got the best product pipeline that I’ve seen in my 25 years at Apple,” the executive said.
Apple held an October event last year to unveil new iPads and Macs.
Are you excited?