Google has definitely taken the world of wearable computing by storm with Glass, but there’s another class of wearable computers that’s slowly gaining popularity – the smart watch. Pebble already proved that there’s a demand for smart watches with its $10 million Kickstarter, and Apple is rumored to be dabbling with the tech as well. Now another tech giant is joining in.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft may be working on a smart watch design. The news comes from Microsoft suppliers in Asia that were asked to ship smart watch components to the company for testing. It’s said that Microsoft’s hardware designers are looking into it, but there’s no guarantee that Microsoft will move ahead with it.
So, what will Microsoft’s potential smart watch look like? There’s not much information available at the moment, but we do know that the company ordered 1.5-inch displays from its suppliers. It would be a bit bigger than Pebble’s 1.26-inch display, but display size isn’t exactly the most important aspect of a smart watch. What’s most important is its functionality and which phones it can work with. Windows Phone is the most obvious choice, but Microsoft would be stupid not to add support for iOS and Android as well.
Still, all of this is merely a rumor for now, just like Apple’s own rumored smart watch. These devices may not even see the light of day as smart watches, while popular among certain groups, are still struggling to find mass market adoption. Microsoft should know this better than anybody else as its previous foray into wearable computing didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome.