According to insiders, Samsung is all set to unveil the Galaxy Gear, which is a wristwatch like mobile device capable of handling emails, making phone calls and surfing the internet. The Galaxy Gear is likely to be an Android-based device that will hit the markets sometime in the next few months, potentially competing against a similar product which Apple is rumored to be working on. The Gear is expected to be officially unveiled on the 4th of September, a couple of days prior to the IFA electronics show which is going to be held in Berlin, said one of the sources who prefers to stay anonymous as the information is currently being held private by Samsung.
The manufacturer is said to be in a race against the other competitors, like Sony, in order to be the first to enter the new market for wearable mobile devices as the top end smart phone market is nearing saturation. The watch industry is expected to sell products worth more than $60 billion during this year, and the manufacturer to first offer multitasking watch-like devices could very well lock the users to their platform, which will eventually increase the sales of their smart phones, tablets and TVs as well.
It doesn’t look like the Galaxy Gear which will be released this September will feature a flexible display, although Samsung is developing those, said one of the informers. The device will be released alongside the company’s Galaxy Note 3. Even as the date when the Gear will be available to the users hasn’t been confirmed yet, it seems almost certain that it will be on sale much before the rumored Apple iWatch, even as it will not be the first such device to be in the market.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 became available in the market in the beginning of summer this year. At the same time, Pebble, a stat up based in the US, gathered over $10.3 million through crowd funding in order to launch its own Pebble smartwatch. Around 275,000 people have already pre-ordered the device. According to a research firm, this year will see more than half a million smart watches being sold, with the sales growing to 4 million next year as Apple, Samsung, Google and other manufacturers launch their respective devices. The plans of these companies have been hinted at by the frequent patent filings and leaks.
