Steve Wozniak thinks wearables are a tough sell… unless you’re Apple

Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak has confidence the company can do with wearable devices what the iPhone did to smartphones back in 2007: make them compelling to a mass market. But when it comes to wearables — devices we strap to our wrists (and other body parts) that mimic many of the functions of current generation smartphones — Woz says it may be harder to convince customers to buy these kinds of gadgets. “Apple works very hard to produce exceptionally great products and doesn’t quickly release things like a wearable. So if one is introduced I expect it to have a chance to set the direction and make the product category finally viable,” Woz said Wednesday in an email exchange after a report that Apple may introduce a new wearable device in September along with new iPhones. “I feel that wearables are a hard sell,” Woz added. “They are go-betweens for your smartphone but are an extra piece and need special advantages that the smartphone doesn’t have, in my opinion. If they are just a Bluetooth go-between then it could wind up in the category of Bluetooth headsets: Fun to wear and show off for a day.” Apple’s entry into the wearables market, which has been rumored for years and is now expected for this fall, comes as its biggest competitors are also competing for mindshare and market share with consumers. Smartphone and tablet rival Samsung has already released — and upgraded — a few devices. Some of these gadgets now run a wearable-specific operating system designed by Google, called Android Wear, that aims to lure users away from Apple’s iOS software.