Tech insiders are drawing together a compelling set of reasons for why Apple is very likely to enter the smartwatch market, and why they’re also likely to make a clean sweep of it.

They’ll be late to the market, competing against upstarts like Pebble and established brands like Sony in order capitalize on a trend that is sweeping the tech consumables industry. The “wearables” industry is just about to take off, as personal tech matures and becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives.

There are reports that Apple may be working with Intel to develop a smartwatch with a 1.5-inch PMOLED display. Apple’s investment in curved display technology also would work beautifully on a wearable product. And don’t forget that countless people wore the iPod Nano as a wristwatch — using third-party bands sold in Apple stores.

Apple doesn’t typically invent a new market segment, but enter established ones where it sees great opportunity. There are plenty of iOS-compatible wearable devices already out there now — the Kickstarter-backed Pebble smartwatch is a notable newcomer, and with Martian watches and Metawatches are other options. Sony’s smartwatch is currently an Android-only model. So the time is right for Apple to jump in the pool.

So how could Apple succeed?

One significant step it could take towards sweeping the market and injecting life into flagging iPhone sales could be to make the smartwatch act as a passcode for your iPhone — “rather than needing to manually enter some digits to unlock your handset or adjust settings, the watch’s proximity would let your iDevice know that it is you, and not an impostor, trying to access the device.” It would effectively solve the password fallibility crisis currently gripping the tech industry, for the Apple brand.

[Source : Wired]