Apple hires Tag Heuer Sales Executive - High-Profile Executive Poachings signals iWatch with CarPlay, HomeKit, HealthKit and NFC integration

For a company that’s not making an iWatch, they’re hiring an awful lot of executives that used to work for companies that make wristwatches.

Apple has recently hired Tag Heuer Sales Executive Patrick Pruniaux as reported in the article “APPLE HIRES TAG HEUER EXEC AS IWATCH RUMORS BUILD”, published July 5, 2014 By David Nield, DigitalTrends and “iWatch imminent, Apple hires sales exec from Swiss watchmaker”, published July 4, 2014 10:56 AM PDT by CNET News staff.

The news of the defection of this executive from the Swiss Luxury Watch maker Tag Heuer was leaked by head of LVMH's watch brands Jean-Claude Biver during an interview with CNBC as stated in “Apple poaches Swiss watch exec for iWatch launch”, published Friday, 4 Jul 2014 5:46 AM ET by Jenny Cosgrave, CNBC.

LVMH is a Swiss Luxury consortium and owns Swiss watchmakers TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith and is a who-who in the world of high fashion and Luxury brands. The new of this high-profile poaching was confirmed by Reuters as stated in “Apple poaches another luxury executive as iWatch nears”, published Friday Jul 4, 2014 5:51pm BST BY ASTRID WENDLANDT, Reuters.

So it's the closest thing to a legitimate confirmation that Apple is indeed working on something wristwatch related, if not solid News!

iOS 8 and Wearables – WWDC betting on CarPlay, HomeKit, HealthKit in a Cashless Society

In fact, Apple dropped a lot of clues to Wearables becoming an important category of Devices in the future at their WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) as stated in “WWDC and iOS 8 hints point straight to an Apple iWatch”, published June 2, 2014 12:56 PM PDT by Scott Stein, CNET News.

iOS 8 seems to be more friendly to Third-part Devices, suggesting a place for Wearables is being created. iOS 8 would make iWatch integration into HealthKit, Apple's Health App for Health and Fitness Data and HomeKit, their Home Automation suite that suggests that they're looking seriously at a Wearable device. After all, you can't track heartbeats with your Apple iPhone; that'd require a new sensor to be built onto the smartphone.

To be honest, HomeKit Home Automation is really best controlled via the Apple iPad and Apple iPhone with its bigger screen interface. An iWatch, however, would be the perfect replacement for your keys, not to mention be a Bluetooth 4.0 tethered companion to your Apple iPad and Apple iPhone to remind you whenever you've left them behind when leaving the house.

It would, however, be a great complement to Apple in-Vehicle Entertainment System based around the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod. Dubbed CarPlay as explained in my blog article entitled “Apple to launch CarPlay at Geneva Auto Show in Geneva, Switzerland - Siri Voice Assistant and Primesense bring Hands-free Remote Control Revolution to The Grand Budapest Hotel”, the Apple iWatch could fit into that ecosystem by being a wireless means of unlocking your vehicle door as well as turning on your Car’s Engine.

As the HealthKit on your Apple iPhone would be controlling the in-Vehicle Entertainment, it could received feedback from the iWatch to gauge your mood and select music to calm you down or even prevent you from driving if it sense elevated levels of stress hormones in your blood.

An Apple iWatch could also sport and NFC (Near Field Communication) sensor to allow for mobile payments at a swipe of your hand. Imagine never having to reach for your smartphone to use your e-Wallet; it would be on your wrist, enableing wireless payment for everything from Baseball Tickets, Credit Card Payments and Airline and Restaurant Reservations. 

If the venue that you’re going to has Apple’s iBeacon Technology installed as described in my blog article entitled “MLB testing out Apple's iBeacon to give New York Mets Fans Treats and Free Coupons - iBeacon a challenge to FourSquare”, you could score some free Promotional or Discount Coupons if you frequent the venue. iBeacon is Bluetooth based, so it’s not a hard stretch to see the Apple iWatch playing this role with the supporting case of the Apple iPhone to provide details on a larger screen.

Truly, the Apple iWatch may be the start of a Cashless Society in the US of A, as many might support NFC as described in my blog article entitled “NFC now supports Device-to-device Data Transfers – Swapping Music in the Castle of My Skin” if Apple came on Board”.

Apple working on an iWatch – Tale of the High-Profile Executive Poachings and Nike FuelBand Kibosh

Apple had hired Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve in July 2013 and later New York Times Designer Arem Duplessis in December 2013, possibly related to an Apple iWatch design as explained in my blog article entitled “Apple considering Inductive, Solar and Kinetic Charging for Apple iWatch - Apple iWatch will start the Post-Power Adapter Era and kill the power Brick, the last vestage of the Analog Era”.

They also allegedly negotiated with Nike to kill their Nike FuelBand project and then later hired the Engineers working on the project as I’d explained in my blog article entitled “Nike gives the FuelBand the Kibosh to make way for Apple iWatch as Fitness Tracker Field gets crowded”.

So adding all these Kings and Queens together in my hand, I’d say I’m holding on to something that’s slowly looking like a Royal Flush. So I’ll lay out my cards straight; Apple smartwatch will have the following design elements:

1.      Swiss Movement

2.      Liquid Metal Stylings

3.      Metal or Leather straps in Bread Marker Colours

4.      Sapphire Screen

5.      Health and Fitness Tracker Tech built in

6.      NFC Reader for Cashless Transactions

7.      Support for Apple Beacon Technology

8.      No LCD in the Design

9.      LED to be used for Lighting, Display

10.  Powered by an ordinary wristwatch battery

11.  Battery life of 1 year on a single charge

12.  Kinetic, Solar and Inductive Charging

Once it achieves the main criteria of being good enough to wear to a Black Tie function and not make you look like a Dick Tracey fanboy as pointed out in my Geezam blog article entitled “Samsung Gear Smartwatch is too Dick Tracey and not Simple enough to want you to Rock the Future on your Wrist”.

Good Battery Life counter in months and years, not hours and a Swiss Finish will see Apple beating even the likes of Samsung as stated in my blog article entitled “On Device Research Survey indicates Smartwatches are set to be the next must-have Gadget - Improved Design and battery Life needed to make them less Frozen in the past”, already early to the party with multiple smartwatch offerings.

Make it with just good battery life alone and once the styling is good, the Apple iWatch by itself will have legions of Apple iPhone users lining up for miles to buy an Apple iPhone. After all, that’s one criteria that most of these smartwatches thus far have failed to achieve.

Apple iWatch by Tuesday September 9^th 2014 along with the Apple iPhone 6 as predicted in my blog article entitled “WalMart Sale on Apple iPhone 5S and 5C - Apple iPhone 6 expected in September 2014 and is worth its weight in Gold and Sapphires” is beginning to look like a Healthy Prospect for Apple bottom line.