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Jony Ive reportedly boasts that the iWatch will do to Switzerland what the iPhone did to BlackBerry

Published Sep 4th, 2014 10:11AM EDT
iWatch vs Swatch Design

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In a new piece on tech and fashion, The New York Times also looked at Apple since it’s one of the companies that’s expected to launch a fashionable smart wearable device soon. The piece is notable because it revealed that Apple’s design chief Jonathan Ive thinks very highly of the soon-to-be-unveiled smartwatch and he sees it as a danger for those gorgeous but dumb watches coming out of Switzerland.

FROM EARLIER: It looks like the iWatch still isn’t close to being ready for mass production

“According to a designer who works at Apple, Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, in bragging about how cool he thought the iWatch was shaping up to be, gleefully said Switzerland is in trouble — though he chose a much bolder term for ‘trouble’ to express how he thought the watchmaking nation might be in a tough predicament when Apple’s watch comes out,” the Times wrote.

Even though Apple will not be the first company to launch a smartwatch and there already are a variety of brand new smartwatches available to buyers, with more good-looking devices expected to launch soon, many people expect Apple to reinvent the smartwatch industry, as it did with other product lines before.

Regular watchmakers aren’t sitting idly by, a recent report revealed, as Swatch is currently working on a smartwatch design of its own to counter the potentially negative effects smartwatches – and particularly Apple’s iWatch – could have on its bottom line.

Apple is expected to unveil the iWatch on September 9 during its iPhone 6 event, and launch it only at some point next year.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.