As rumours abound that Apple is beavering away at developing a wristwatch capable of performing smartphone-like tasks, Samsung has confirmed that such a device is very much on its radar.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, said the South Korean manufacturer had been working on the watch product for a long time.

“We’re preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them,” he said.

The first companies to get the new watch devices into the market, speculates the report, could lock customers into their platform. In turn, this would increase sales of their respective phones, tablets and TVs.

What features the Samsung watch will have are not yet clear, nor is the timetable for product launch.

However, the Bloomberg report flags up some watch features that the Cupertino giant is believed to be working on. According to an unnamed source, these include letting users make calls, see the identity of incoming callers and check map coordinates.

A pedometer for counting steps, plus sensors for monitoring health-related data (such as heart rates) might also be housed in the device.

According to Citigroup analyst Oliver Chen, who is cited by the report, the global watch industry will generate more than $60 billion in sales this year.