Apple iWatch still in EVT stage, might not show up at September 9 event
Recent reports from Digitimes indicate that the iWatch (AKA “iTime”) might not be included in Apple’s big reveal on September 9. The highly anticipated wearable iDevice will be the first made by Apple, and rumors have been consistently pouring out of various levels of Apple’s manufacturing and supply chain, suggesting different tentative dates for its release.
Digitimes reports the iWatch being currently in EVT phase, which stands for Engineering Verification Testing. Before the iWatch is mass produced, it must complete an EVT stage, and a successive PVT stage, which stands for Product Verification Testing, at which point Apple will still be able to change its design before entering production.
Allegedly, Apple is currently still evaluating component orders from manufacturers, at which point, the Apple iWatch will be able to complete the PVT stage and enter official production.
The reasoning behind Apple’s prerogative to change the iWatch design between EVT and PVT is that, being such a new product, whose design depends on many factors, producing mockups for demonstration purposes at the September 9 event would be highly dangerous, as long as there is a chance for the iWatch to look radically different.
At any rate, it is very likely that Apple might not unveil the iWatch until sometime in 2015, as well as its official name.
A fair degree of speculation has been surrounding the name of the device currently defined as the “iWatch”, including “iTime”, among the most popular. According to industry analysts, there is a chance Apple might not go for “iWatch”. A similar case was the iPad, initially dubbed “iTab”, a name that was quickly binned and dismissed.
The rumor surrounding the new Apple wearable device’s possible 2015 release is after all consistent with earlier leaks concerning not just one, but several different wrist-wearable tech, some marketed to women, which could mean that 2015 will see the dawn of Apple’s wearable tech in a grand way, perhaps an indication that Apple is ready to move onto a completely new line of devices, while, at the same time, giving more attention to the iPhone, than it has in recent years.