Computer can turn wristwatch

Microsoft is working on designs for a device similar to a wristwatch with touch screen, said executives of the American company suppliers of technology, what unites potentially rivals such as Apple, who also work in a new class of computing products.
Earlier this year, Microsoft asked the suppliers in Asia to send components to a potential device clock style, said executives of these companies. One of them said he met with the research and development team at Microsoft in the software giant's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. But it is unclear whether Microsoft will choose to move forward with the clock, said the executives. Microsoft declined to comment.
Some investors and large technology companies are betting on the growth of the sector of devices used in the body as accessories-known in English as "wearables"-computerized devices, built thanks to the growing power and increasingly reduced size of sensors, which can measure the body temperature, detecting the geographic location and meet the voice of people in motion.
Some of the new handsets, such as the FuelBand, Nike, measure the physical activity, while others are intended to complement the functions of a smartphone, texting, taking pictures or checking weather information. Apple also made tests with projects for a device in the form of a wristwatch, reported the "The Wall Street Journal earlier this year.
The Pebble Technology, a Silicon Valley start-up company, is selling a clock that synchronizes through wireless technology with smartphones and vibrates to alert users about receiving calls, Twitter messages and emails. Google is testing with consumers a device named, for now, Google Glass, a device in the form of glasses that displays certain computerized information in the field of view of the user.
"We see a growing demand for portable devices coupled to the body as the size of the smartphone has become too large to be loaded," said Wanli Wang, an analyst at RBS. "A smart watch that is compatible with a smartphone and other electronic devices would be something attractive to consumers."
The research firm Gartner predicts that the market for intelligent electronic portable coupled to the body can turn into a thread that will mobilize $ 10 billion a year until 2016.
This is not the first time that Microsoft demonstrates interest in hand-held devices used as accessories attached to the body. Ten years ago, Microsoft launched the "Smart Watch", a smart watch that ran with a software company. To pay a monthly subscription, users could receive Smart Watch News, sports results and instant messages sent over FM radio waves to their wrists. But sales were suspended in 2008.
For the prototype of its new watch potential, Microsoft requested 1.5 inch screens the component manufacturers, said an Executive of one of the suppliers.
The tests of a computerized clock also underscore Microsoft's ambitions to expand their offerings. Last October, Microsoft released the Surface, a tablet-style computer, and the company is preparing more personal computing devices, including a smaller version of the tablet, 7 inches, to compete with popular devices such as the iPad Mini, Apple, told people the couple.
Microsoft also is still testing its own smartphone, although it is not clear whether the company will launch such a device on the market, said suppliers of electronic components.