Well, it was only a matter of time. Apple has been granted a patent they filed for an electronic wristwatch device, or what those who have been speculating for years have dubbed the "iWatch".
Originally filed in 2011, the patent details what the Cupertino-based company was thinking its own version of a smartwatch could look like early on. (Via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)
While one of the diagrams shows a watchband with a dock, similar to what the sixth generation iPod nano had available, another diagram shows an all-in-one style of what the watch could look like.
The patent also mentions the use of arm and wrist gestures to control the smartwatch, suggesting a person could make a horizontal movement to decline a call or a vertical one to answer.
AppleInsider notes other features that the patent contains such as alerting the user to calls or app notifications, using GPS data, interacting with other devices in a "personal wireless environment" and sensing physical data based off the user.
Sounds pretty fancy, but as The Next Web notes, whatever Apple has in store for their smartwatch — which is still just a rumor — could be quite different from what's in this patent.
"Given this patent was filed in 2011, it’s safe to assume this design – if it was ever the frontrunner for an Apple smartwatch – has undergone significant changes."
It may not be a direct confirmation, but this patent at least brings us one step closer to seeing whether Apple is going to jump into the smartwatch market, however long that takes.
Something that's coming a little sooner is Apple's iPhone 6, and apparently the company thinks they'll be selling a lot of them. (Via YouTube / Marques Brownlee)
Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is asking suppliers to make between 70 and 80 million units of their next devices, a significant increase over their order of 50 to 60 million units last year.
Being granted a new smartwatch patent and placing a huge order for their next phone sounds like good news for Apple. But, there was some less appealing news yesterday.
According to Ars Technica, an iOS jailbreaker and forensic expert found what appears to be a "backdoor" in iPhones and said "the services could also be abused by ex-lovers, co-workers, or anyone else who is in possession of a computer that has ever been paired with an iPhone or iPad."
There's also the obvious worry that Apple created the backdoor to cooperate with government agencies like the NSA who would use it to access peoples' personal information. (Via Getty Images)
But, the jailbreaker tells folks not to panic in his blog. While he doesn't think Apple willingly included the backdoor to work with the NSA, he does suspect that the security agency may have used it to collect peoples' data.
Today, Apple responded to the news telling iMore that it "has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services."
And for one more piece of Apple news: the company announced it netted a profit of $7.7 billion during it's third quarter earnings call Tuesday afternoon.
