14 DAY TRIAL // Even if Apple rolls out its rumored iWatch this year, it will most likely not employ flexible glass, according to Corning Glass President James Clappin. The man says the technology is still years away from entering mass production.
Corning is a New York-based company which produces the famous Gorilla Glass used by Apple in its iPhones.
The company is juggling with several technologies which make glass tougher, more scratch resistant and even bendable.
Willow Glass is the next big thing from Corning. When it comes to using it in real products, all eyes are on Apple and the rumored iWatch.
Citing the Corning boss, Bloomberg reveals that Corning’s Willow Glass is still in its early stages in becoming a usable technology across electronics, like wearable computers – a new category of devices poised to pick up Steam starting this year.
Willow Glass in particular is about three years away from making it into any wearable computers, like the rumored iWatch from Apple, the report states.
After the opening of an $800 million factory for liquid-crystal-display glass, Corning Glass President James Clappin told reporters, “People are not accustomed to glass you roll up.”
“The ability of people to take it and use it to make a product is limited,” said Clappin, putting the kibosh on iWatch rumors involving flexible glass.
Although Corning’s Willow Glass is already in production, the company is reportedly making “a lot of effort” to instruct “very big name” companies on how to use it.
Clappin declined to elaborate on the matter, and avoided to disclose the names of these big name companies. Apple and Google are likely amongst them.
Apple’s iWatch is believed to be more of a wearable iPhone companion, rather than an actual time-keeping piece. Some analysts believe that wearable computing is the next big thing for everyone involved with gadget production.