Apple to foray into wearables with “Earpods”: report
02 May 2014
Wearable devices for health monitoring are among the most 'in' stuff for 2014. According to a post on the anonymous app Secret, Apple Inc's new foray into the wearables market would be ''Earpods'' that come with several health monitoring functions. The new Earpod headphones would also use Apple's ''iBeacon'' system to enable easy location in case they were lost.
The author of the Secret post who claims to be a former Apple Inc employee, and part of a group laid off last week, also said Apple's iWatch too was in development.
The post pointed out that Apple Inc was also working on an ''iWatch'' wearable device, but apparently the name had not been finalised. An iWatch would face stiff competition, as Samsung had already released both a smart watch and a ''Gear Fit'' wristband device that measured heart rate, commentators say.
According to commentators, the idea of a health monitoring feature made sense for both Apple Inc's Earpod and iWatch wearables, and it also made sense given leaked suggestions that the upcoming iOS 8 would include a ''Healthbook'' app too. The leaks first published by 9to5Mac in March, also highlighted the iPhone maker's growing focus on tracking fitness.
However, research had also shown that people tended to discard separately bought fitness gadgets within a few months, which meant any successful "wearable" would need to have an additional function, which was not health or fitness-related.
What credibility do posts on Secret, that cannot be traced to their authors is an open question, but it cannot be denied that a number of recent posts had been bang on.
A post in April suggested that Nike was shutting down its Fuelband wearables division - a claim that was in effect confirmed by the company. Another claimed that Google+ chief Vic Gundotra was looking for jobs outside Google; he made his exit two day later.
A more recent post claimed that Box, the enterprise cloud filing company, would delay its stock market float, which also came about.
