In an interview with CNBC, long-time wearable specialist Oura has predicted that Apple won’t make a smart ring.
Oura CEO Tom Hale said that Apple is likely “unconvinced about the value of having a ring and watch together,” and that an attempt by Apple to enter the smart ring market is unlikely to happen, as “it’s hard to do this product category right.”, Macrumors reports.
Apple has been rumoured to be considering smart rings, but according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has no active development underway. Apple doesn’t want to cannibalise sales of the Apple Watch, as many features would overlap.
Oura recently launched the Oura Ring 4, a product that can track movement, exercise, health, stress and sleep.
However, this doesn’t seem to be a problem for Samsung which has its range of Galaxy Watches as well as the Galaxy Ring. And having both is beneficial to the user in terms of both data accuracy and increased battery life.
Apple’s team has proposed a smart ring as a cheaper alternative to the Apple Watch, but interest among company executives has been tepid.
Hale saying ‘it’s hard to get right'”‘ is reminiscent of what Palm CEO Ed Colligan said in 2006: “We’ve been struggling and learning for a few years here to figure out how to make a good phone. The PC guys aren’t just going to step in and succeed.”
The following year, the iPhone was launched.
See also: Oura Ring 4 vs Samsung Galaxy Ring: 5 key differences and Apple is considering entering the TV market… again.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macworld Sweden and was translated and adapted from Swedish.
Author: Petter Ahrnstedt, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Petter has a solid grasp of what is happening in the Apple world, including the latest rumors of upcoming products and services. He previously worked at Apple as PR manager, but in recent years has returned to journalism, where he started many years ago.