Thinking – or hoping – you’ll see Apple’s long-rumored smartwatch in time for the holidays this year? Think again.
According to a weekend report from the Financial Times, Apple is “aggressively” hiring new employees to help with its smartwatch effort. And Apple definitely needs a lot of help. For this reason, we’re told not to expect the so-called iWatch until late 2014.
“The company has begun hiring ‘aggressively’ for the project in recent weeks,” the report reads, citing people familiar with Apple’s plans for the wearable device, “a move that shows it has stepped up development but which raises questions over the ability of its own engineers to develop wearable technology.”
As Apple moves from iPods, iPhones and iPads into an entirely new category of product, it is looking beyond its existing staff in Cupertino for the talent required to build it – an indication that the endeavour involves “hard engineering problems that they’ve not been able to solve”, according to one source.
The latest scuttlebutt adds that Apple has even been looking into acquiring smaller firms with expertise that would be valuable to its smart watch project.
The California-based tech giant seems to be working hard just to retain key employees to help with other projects and products these days.
