Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL): ‘Smart Watch’ Race?

With Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) are working very intensely in an increasing mobile marketplace to try to gain the upper hand with their Android and iOS operating systems, respectively.  But with the mobile market getting more populated with devices (larger tablets, smaller tablets, bigger and smaller smartphones, “phablets”) and companies jumping into the market (Microsoft is the latest to go along with Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, Samsung and others), how can these two mega-sized tech companies sent themselves apart?

Well, thanks to a couple of items this month, these two companies may be the frontrunners in the race to establish the ultimate mobile market – the “smart watch.”

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)Three weeks ago, a story surfaced that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was perhaps in active development of a “smart watch,” called the “iWatch.” There is some conjecture whether the “smart watch” may be the device that replaces the tablet or the smartphone in a new market segment called “wearable computing.” The prediction by Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster is that any “smart watch” may not come out until 2014 at the earliest.

Will that be soon enough to lead the way? That might be in question, as Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has held a patent for a “smart watch” since October, and is apparently in serious development for such a device. And in some ways, Google even might be behind the curve – though it has been causing a lot of stir in the “wearable computing” space with its Google Glass project – with reports that a coule of startup companies are erhaps just months or weeks away from launching their attempts at a “smart watch.”

Piper Jaffray’s Munster predicts that “wearable computing” would ultimately replace smartphones within 10 years.

What are your thoughts about a “smart watch” race between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)? Would you consider a “smart watch”? And will this be the next big thing in tech? Give us your comments below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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