Many Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) watchers are familiar with the incredibly strong alloy known as Liquidmetal. Apple acquired the rights to this unique material in a 2010 deal with Liquidmetal Technologies (LQMT.PK). Since then, the Cupertino-based company has not done much with this material except make a SIM card eject tool for the iPhone. One reason for the limited use of this material is the difficulty in producing it in large amounts.
Is Apple now a once-in-a-decade buying opportunity? Click here to get your 24-page Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Apple’s Stock now!
A recently granted patent indicates that Apple has overcome this production limitation. This has led some commentators to speculate that the next-generation iPhone will be made of this material that has “twice the strength of titanium.”
However, Anthony Wing Kosner at Forbes makes a convincing argument that the first product to be made with Liquidmetal will likely be the long-rumored iWatch. He notes that recent rumors reported by9to5Mac andthe Financial Times indicate that the wearable tech project at Apple has taken on a sudden urgency.
Besides making the wristwatch device invulnerable to scratches, Kosner notes that Apple’s established Liquidmetal patents would give the company a product that is uniquely durable and impossible for other companies to duplicate. He also speculates that the small “informational modules” of iOS 7 may have been specifically designed with the iWatch in mind.
Like 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman, Kosner also thinks that former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve may have been hired specifically for the iWatch design project. Kosner believes that Apple may spend the next year observing how the other wearable tech products perform on the market before it methodically builds a product that is able to better serve its users in the long run. This would be similar to how Apple developed and unveiled the iPod after observing inferior digital media players on the market.