Samsung is set to rival Apple in yet another market segment-- wearable electronics. The Korean giant confirms with Bloomberg it is currently hard at work designing a smartwatch device of its own.
"We've been preparing the watch product for so long,” Samsung mobile business VP Lee Young Hee says. “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
Lee Young Hee gives neither hardware nor launch date details on the device, whose confirmation follows recently revealed rumours on a supposed Apple smartwatch.
Currently the biggest smartphone maker in the world, Samsung will launch three high-end handsets in 2013, including the Galaxy S 4 and Tizen-based device. But as the $358 billion mobile market reaches saturation, it comes to no surprise the industry is rushing towards new product offerings. Samsung's Lee puts it best, telling Bloomberg "the issue here is who will first commercialize [wearable technology] so consumers can use it meaningfully.”