While the spotlight was shining firmly on Apple on Tuesday, Intel was holding a little shindig of its own a few miles away in San Francisco.
Indeed, at the very same time that Tim Cook was showing everyone what he had up his sleeve, Intel boss Brian Krzanich was giving his keynote at the company’s annual Developer Forum, offering up some more information on Intel’s push into wearables.
During his spiel, in which he said Apple was “legitimizing” the smartwatch market with the launch of the Apple Watch, Krzanich announced the successor to the Basis health tracker smartwatch – the Basis Peak.
Scheduled to ship in November, Krzanich got the boss of Intel wearables – former Apple executive Mike Bell – to introduce an image of the Peak, which Intel is calling “the ultimate fitness and sleep tracker.”
Disappointingly, Bell’s photo of the Peak was simply a teaser, showing only the back of the device with an array of sensors used to measure heart rate, movement, calories burned, perspiration levels, skin temperature, and also sleep patterns.
“The back of our device looks even better than the front of others,” Bell quipped.
The wearables chief didn’t reveal pricing for the Peak, though we won’t be surprised to see it come with the same $150 price tag as the current model.
Related: Intel reveals a luxury smart bracelet called Mica
Intel acquired Basis Science, the company behind the Basis gadget, back in March. The move was an indication of Intel’s determination to make an early splash in the wearables space in a bid to avoid the mistake it made with the mobile market where it was slow to respond.
It’s also partnered with 50 Cent’s headphone company SMS Audio to produce the SMS Audio BioSport Headphones. Announced in August, the biometric headphones can monitor your heart rate, sync with fitness app RunKeeper, and keep you motivated during your workout.
More recently, Intel unveiled a luxury smart bracelet with a 1.6-inch touchscreen. Called ‘Mica,’ the standalone device was designed in collaboration with New York City-based fashion house Opening Ceremony, and is set to hit stores in time for the holiday season.
With the gradual decline of the PC market damaging Intel’s chip business and consequently knocking revenue, it hopes its investment in wearables – a market which could be worth in excess of $8 billion by 2018 – will help establish new income streams and secure its long-term future.
