Apple IWatch Rumor: Release Date Tipped For Second Half Of 2014 With $149-$229 Price Tag

At a time when Samsung (KRX:005935) is preparing to announce the Galaxy Gear smart watch concept on Sept. 4, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is rumored to launch the iWatch, the company’s long-speculated smart watch, in the second half of 2014.

According to Wanli Wang, an analyst at CIMB Group, Apple will release the iWatch with a price tag between $149 and $229, and consumers are expected to purchase the device mainly to replace their iPods, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday.

The report did not provide any details on how Apple might convince consumers to replace their music player with a smart watch and it would be better to consider the tidbit in question with a pinch of salt.

The CIMB Group analyst also said that iWatch shipments are expected to surpass an estimated 63.4 million units in 2014, with Inventec (TPE:2356), a Taiwan-based device manufacturing company, expected to land 60 percent of orders for the Apple smart watch. The orders are expected to contribute about 19 percent of Inventec's profits in 2014.

Another report from Taiwan’s Apple Daily newspaper said that Quanta Computer (TPE:2382) was sharing the "iWatch" orders with Inventec by taking 40 percent of order allocation, AFP reported.

In February, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty had said that the iWatch could provide Apple with an $80 billion opportunity if the company can sell at least 50 million units of the smart watch at an average selling price between $200 and $300, iDownloadBlog reported, adding that the sales figure could add an incremental $10 billion to $15 billion in revenue, or $2.50 to $4.00 in earnings per share each year.

The idea of a head-mounted computer, such as Google Glass, is fairly new. However, wrist-mounted computers have been available in the marketplace for some time now. And, despite Sony's Smart Watch not having won mainstream appeal so far, Samsung, Acer and Apple are among some of the major technology companies that are expected to be working on similar designs.