Simon Tian says he has in-hand a working prototype of something nearly unprecedented in consumer electronics: a smartphone the size of a watch. Not just a smart watch, but an actual, fully-featured smartphone running Google’s Android software that straps onto your wrist. Along with his team of nine at the Montreal, Quebec-based startup Neptune, he’ll be unveiling it in mid-April. Tian is only 18 years old—the founder and youngest member of Neptune.
Apple, meanwhile, is rumored to be working on a smartwatch that could act as an accessory to the iPhone, and may already have a team of 100 product designers working on prototypes of its own in its Cupertino, California headquarters. But unless Apple is going to surprise the world by unveiling an “iWatch” at an event anticipated this spring, Neptune is going to beat it to the punch.
Whenever Apple does get around to releasing an iWatch, it will face many of the same design, engineering and manufacturing hurdles that Neptune is currently wrestling with. That makes Neptune both an ambitious startup with an intriguing story of its own and a preview of the smartphone watch future that’s just over the horizon.
Neptune’s founder is an interesting story unto himself. Typically in Quebec, students go to a year of pre-college preparation in lieu of their final year of high school. It was during his time at this “college” that Tian started dreaming of skipping the rest of his education and starting a business instead. By May of 2012 he had founded a company, and operations commenced that October. So far, his funding has come entirely from family and friends.
Read more…
