Stefan Mileschin

Apple has apparently applied to register a new trademark in Taiwan, the iWatch. It comes as no surprise, as rumours of an Apple smart watch have been clogging up the interweb for months. The filing was published Monday by Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office, reports Focus Taiwan. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has appled for the "TOQ" trademark.

Apple filed the application on June 3 and it reportedly made identical filings in Japan, Mexico and Russia.Although the filing indicates that an iWatch is indeed coming, at this point nobody really knows what to expect.

Foxconn demonstrated a prototype smart watch at a shareholder bash last week. The company said the phone can be used to check phone calls and Facebook posts. It also measures the user’s vital signs, so sooner or later some developer will come up with an app that posts users’ health status on Facebook, something like “Fred Bloggs is having a stroke.” We are quite sure there are people who will "like" such statuses.

Wearable tech might be the next frontier when it comes to smart devices. Unlike smart cameras and toasters, smart watches could be used to control phones, a feature that will surely be appreciated by avid joggers and bikers. However, nobody expects them to come cheap and battery life still remains a concern.

On the other hand, if anyone can make them take off, it’s Apple. The real question is whether we really need smart watches and Google Glass? Not that long ago travellers were used to packing a laptop and a phone, usually a feature phone that could go for days on a single charge. Now people are expected to lug along a laptop, tablet, smartphone and “wearable” smart devices, so we’re not entirely convinced the trend will take off.

The whole point of feature packed smartphones was to replace music players, low-end cameras and other gadgets. That's why peopble love them. Wearable tech just seems to be a step in the wrong direction in terms of convenience.

http://news.techeye.net/mobile/apple...atch-trademark