Back in January I covered a story that talked about wearable mobile devices. More specifically, it relied on information supplied by an analyst firm named Jupiter. In the report, I discussed the idea and possibility of wearable devices becoming the next big thing. As it would turn out, my predictions weren’t quite so lofty.
According to Korea Times, LG has now joined the list of companies rumored to be working on a smartwatch. To elaborate, there have also been rumors that Apple, Samsung and the Google Android team are working on similar devices. With the main point being, everyone is working on a damn smartwatch of some kind. It’s getting kind of ridiculous at this point.
Korea Times apparently gathered information from a “source familiar to the matter,” whatever that means. I’ll let you decide whether that should be considered an authentic source or not.
The source explicitly states that LG has a long term strategy when it comes to wearable devices, and they are working on not just one, but two devices. They are just “one major part of many currently non-commercialized products under development by LG Electronics.” So essentially, the folks over at LG are just exceptionally busy and probably have a lot more up their sleeves.
Apparently, the source was not willing to comment on what operating systems LG’s wrist devices will be compatible with. Realistically, it could be for Android or the Firefox OS at this point since LG is developing products for both platforms.
LG actually has a background in the smartwatch industry, thanks to a few products they launched quite some time ago. The GD910 (picture above), for example, was a watch that implemented standard phone functionality all on a wearable device. Unfortunately for LG, their previous devices never met any significant amounts of success in the market.
As always, this information is nothing more than sophisticated a rumor at this point, and rumors are nothing more than gentle whispers in our ears. All of this could turn out to be a bunch of hogwash. Judging by current trends though, I would say LG wants to keep up with the big boys on the playground, and they probably do have something on the way.
So anyway, who wants a smartwatch?