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| REUTERS |
SAMSUNG Electronics Co Ltd unveiled a smartwatch on Wednesday that
works as an accessory to its market-leading Galaxy smartphone, with a small
screen offering basic functions like photos, hands-free calls and instant messaging.
The world's top handset maker hopes the Galaxy Gear will boost the
appeal of its range of Android-powered smartphones, as it battles to maintain
supremacy in the rapidly saturating high-end mobile market against arch rival
Apple Inc.
Its launch, timed to coincide with the start of the IFA consumer
electronics trade show in Berlin, also signals the South Korean giant is more
than just a fast follower in innovation behind Apple, which is preparing to
release a new iPhone next week but is yet to go public with any wearable
devices.
"I believe it will become a new fashion icon in the
world," said J.K. Shin, Samsung's co-chief executive and head of mobile
business.
The market potential for wearable devices is significant.
Leveraging advances in voice technology, biometrics, communications, cloud
storage and power consumption, smartwatches and other wearable devices could be
a $50 billion market by 2017, according to Credit Suisse.
The companion device will keep users constantly connected, Samsung
Executive Vice President of Marketing Lee Young-hee said.
The smartwatch features a 1.63-inch (4.14-cm) screen as well as a
basic camera, and will connect to Samsung's latest Galaxy Note 3 smartphone via
wireless Bluetooth technology. It will make calls, display messages, record
videos and snap photos, all while the user's phone stays in their pocket or
handbag.
The success of Samsung's latest smartwatch - clunky earlier
versions in 1999 and 2009 didn't go down well with consumers - will be measured
as much in how it affects sales of high-end Galaxy smartphones as in sales of
the device itself.
But it is also a shot across the bows of Apple and Google Inc,
which are widely believed to be working on their own wrist-worn devices in what
analysts expect to be the next phase of the mobile communications boom.
"We had smartwatch-type products before, but they were mainly
for making phone calls. What's different with the Gear is it's got far more
useful functions. It's usability has increased significantly and design is not
bulky," Shin said.
The Gear, which will go on sale later this month for $299, doesn't
have a flexible or curved display that some industry watchers had hoped to see
on Samsung's newest products.
Instead, its OLED touch screen features half the picture quality
of high-end smartphone displays and the camera nestling in the strap has only
1.9 megapixels - compared with a 13-megapixel rear camera on the Galaxy S4.
"People are really ready for flexible. Companies have shored
up their technology development in flexible displays and it is really exciting,
but the technology is not ready for the mass market because it is too
expensive," said Sweta Dash, director Display Research and Strategy at IHS
Electronics and Media.
The watch has up to 70 dedicated applications including some basic
fitness apps such as a step-counting passometer, although Samsung hopes this
number will grow as developers get on board.
Battery life, a key challenge for most wearable devices, has
improved to over 27 hours under Samsung's normal-use tests.
Samsung's smartwatch will not be a game changer, CCS Insight
analyst Ben Wood.
"Samsung will do a great job in raising the profile of this
new category, but I don't think we will see a massive shift."
"I think it will only really come alive if Apple would push
into it real hard because they would than make it a fashionable item. Because a
watch is a fashion item. It really is."
Samsung also unveiled the latest version of the Galaxy Note
phone-cum-tablet at its Galaxy unpacked event in Berlin, before the opening of
IFA, Europe's biggest consumer electronics trade fair.
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