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Will.i.am takes on Samsung, sports mysterious smartwatch

Intel's director of creative innovation is launching a watch that, he says, makes all his calls so he doesn't need a smartphone. But what will come next? A Miley Cyrus nose-ring phone?

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

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Wearable.i.am? Alan Carr: Chatty Man/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

I have a sweater designed by Will.i.am.

It's a nice sweater, with a few original this-and-thats. He seems to have a little taste. He also fancies himself as something of a tasteful tech mogul.

It was therefore more inevitable than indigestion after 12 cronuts that the sometime musical performer would get into wearable tech.

Appearing on Britain's Alan Carr show, Will.i.am almost casually referenced the strange black band on his arm.

"I don't carry my phone anymore," he declared. Does this mean he has an assistant carry it for him? Might he have had it sewn in a bicep? It's unclear. But the suggestion is that this sleek band is all he needs.

This secretive device doesn't appear to have a name, a launch date, or even a full list of specs. All of which means that it might well be at the same stage of development as Apple's or not.

However, given the less than enthusiastic reception received by Samsung's smartwatches so far, you might wonder whether the natural neurosis of it and Apple might be heightened after seeing Will.i.am so deftly push at the keys on his wrist.

For myself, I was slightly disturbed when he mentioned that to listen to music you need a Bluetooth headphones. I tend to feel no one needs those.

He took to Twitter to tell Engadget's Emily Price that this device was real and that more information would be coming soon.

His attempts to intrigue his a slightly rocky moment when on Saturday he tried to call British singer Cheryl Cole from the stage of "The Voice." As the Telegraph reports, the results were disappointing. The call dropped.

He was named Intel's director of creative innovation in 2011, but his tech ventures have thus far not necessarily impacted the giants. Or, indeed, smaller people.

Still, I think he's onto something. I can see a whole raft of wearables linked to celebrities. Who wouldn't want a Miley Cyrus Tongue Stud Phone? Who wouldn't crave a Justin Bieber Nipple Ring Phone?

And can an Al Sharpton Mustache Micro-Phone be too far behind?