Samsung reveals it is developing a WATCH to take on Apple's iWatch Both firms are believing to be preparing products to go on sale within months Will link to an owner's mobile phone and offer email and app downloads Samsung has confirmed it is developing a watch to take on Apple's rumoured iWatch. The Korean giant let its plans slip during an interview - setting the scene for the arch-rivals to do battle in yet another market. Experts believe both technology giant's watches will link to mobile phones and offer largely similar functions, such as the ability to show emails and download mini apps. A 2009 concept of a Samsung smart watch: The firm's mobile boss today confirmed it is working on a watch Apple is also believed to have 100 people working on a watch, accoridng to recent rumours. Here is MacUser magazine's mockup of what it could look like 'We've been preparing the watch product for so long,' Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business, told Bloomberg during an interview in Seoul. We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them. The issue here is who will first commercialize it so consumers can use it meaningfully, The Samsung device will perform many of the tasks of a smartphone, a source told Reuters on Tuesday, without giving further details. The source declined to be identified because Samsung did not want to reveal to the public any information about its new product line at this time. However, an earlier concept developed by by designer Joseph Loetiko shows a watch than can be removed from its wristband when running or to answer a call, for example. Shares in both Samsung and Apple have taken a hit as the world's top two mobile device manufacturers keep underwhelming consumers with their latest smartphone models. Samsung shares dropped nearly 5 percent, or around $10 billion, in just two trading sessions after it launched its latest Galaxy S smartphone late on Thursday, partly hit by concerns that its flagship product lacks the 'wow factor' and may not live up to expectations. Samsung's watch concept shows a solid wooden band, and the watch face can be simply slipped out and put in a pocket when running, for example The Galaxy S4, unwrapped to much fanfare in New York to challenge Apple's iPhone on its home turf, offered some incremental evolutionary improvements, but media reports have since suggested these features may not be sufficient to excite buyers in an industry that lives and dies by innovation. The global watch industry is expected to generate more than $60 billion in sales this year, and rather like the mobile phone market, firms are expected to try and 'lock' consumers into their own ecosystem of apps and other downloads. 'The race is on to redesign the mobile phone into something that you wear,' said Marshal Cohen, an analyst at NPD Group in Port Washington, New York. 'We're going to see formidable competition coming from many different directions -- from device makers, accessory makers, even fashion designers.' Samsung's watch concept can even be taken out of its strap to answer a call Samsung became the world's largest smartphone maker last year, overtaking Apple. Samsung had 29 percent of global smartphone unit shipments in the fourth quarter, compared with 21 percent for Apple. Experts believe the new watches could kickstart the mobile phone market, in the same way that the tablet market exploded when Apple introduced the iPad.