Thursday’s Tech Updates: Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Extended Service, Google Inc (GOOG) & Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s 3D Calls

Analyst: Apple iWatch coming in late 2014, to be priced around $149-229 (GSMArena)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iWatch is one of the most hotly anticipated gadgets, especially after reports that Samsung will be launching its Galaxy Gear smartwatch next week. However, according to the latest gossip, Apple’s iWatch is not coming anytime soon and is expected to launch only in the second half of 2014. According to an analyst at CIMB Group, 60% of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iWatch orders are expected to be manufactured by Invetec, the Taiwan-based ODM. The deal is expected to generate about 19% of Invetec’s profits in the coming year.

Vidyo and Google Collaborate to Enhance Video Quality within WebRTC (Telepresenceoptions)
Vidyo, Inc. today announced that it is continuing its relationship with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) to enhance the video quality within WebRTC. This agreement will help align the technology roadmaps of both companies and enables Google to use Vidyo’s Scalable Video Coding (SVC) extensions as part of WebRTC. Under the agreement, Vidyo will develop a scalable video extension for the VP9 codec as part of the WebRTC client open source project. “Vidyo has been a great partner, working with Google to provide a high quality video solution for Hangouts,” said Chee Chew, VP of Engineering at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). “By continuing our relationship, we will now combine the power of WebRTC with the benefits of Vidyo’s technology to deliver the best possible experience for our users.”

Skype is working on 3D video call capability, is held back by current technology’s limitations (Engadget)
In an interview with the BBC (which has canned making its own 3D content), Skype’s VP Mark Gillett says that the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) VoIP service has been working on developing 3D calls. Don’t expect the capability to arrive soon, however, as Gillet soon added that it could be years before the tech gets to Skype users. “we’ve done work in the labs looking at the capability of 3D screens and 3D capture… we’ve seen a lot of progress… but the capture devices are not yet there.”