Future of consumer technology is 'intimate'

An Apple board member says that devices like Google Glass and smart watches which bring users even closer to technology will be the next big thing and in doing so increases speculation regarding the much fabled 'iWatch.'

An Apple board member says that devices like Google Glass and smart watches which bring users even closer to technology will be the next big thing and in doing so increases speculation regarding the much fabled 'iWatch.'

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Speaking at the headquarters of business software company Intuit, Apple board member Bill Campbell said that consumers should expect to see: "a lot of things going on with the application of technology to really intimate things." He pointed to Google Glass as one such intimate object. "It's a phenomenal breakthrough," he said. "When you start to think about glasses or watches, they become as intimate as the cell phone was."

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Google founder Sergey Brin (L) adjusts a pair of Project Glass glasses on designer Diane von Furstenberg before the rehearsal for von Furstenberg's Spring/Summer 2013 collection show during New York Fashion Week. Reuters/Carlo Allegr)

In the filmed one-hour talk, first picked up by Bloomberg Business Week, Campbell touches on a number of subjects, from the surprising success of the Nest Learning Thermostat -- "You would think that people would yawn at something as boring as a thermostat...So, I've been surprised at how it has done and is doing. It will be the first of many products that come out of that company, which has a brilliant CEO and engineering team" -- to what it was like to develop the original iPad and to what makes an effective leader.

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Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, displays his company's smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif. This new watch not only tells time, but also connect to smart phones within 10 meters. Photo: AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez

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Revered in Silicon Valley, Campbell was CEO of Intuit and as well as sitting on Apple's board has also held a number of other executive positions (including on the board of Google) and has mentored and advised a number of tech startups, Nest included, hence his nickname, ‘coach'.

Age of wearable tech is here

LG GD910 3G Touch Watch Phone. Photo: AFP

Although Campbell was at pains to point out he was unable to discuss specific details of Apple's future products and development, the fact that he mentioned watches when discussing the future of consumer technology will no doubt help to further fuel rumors surrounding Apple's purported 'iWatch.'