The Samsung Galaxy Gear release date was leaked last week when Bloomberg reported that the South Korean tech giant will introduce the wristwatch-like device on September 4. Many expect that the highly rumored Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be announced on the same day.

Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter, that the gadget can make phone calls, surf the web and handle emails. It will be powered by Google’s Android operating system and will go on sale this year to potentially compete with a similar upcoming product from Apple.

According to an analyst who spoke to Bloomberg, the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Gear will give Asia’s biggest technology company a step ahead in the game for the new wearable gadgets category.

“It will carve a niche for sure as this is an initial product in the market,” said Chun Chang Won of Nomura Holdings, Inc. in Seoul.

“Wearable devices could be one of the trend in the smartphone market, but I’m not sure yet whether watches or glasses will set the trend.”

It was earlier reported that Samsung filed a trademark for “Galaxy Gear” earlier this month. The move by the company to launch the smartwatch could signal that the battle for market share in this segment is about to heat up.

Sony claims that it’s the leader in the smartwatch segment and has a third iteration of its watch available. The first two weren’t exceptional products with users frequently experiencing connection drops and other issues, according to GigaOm.

Google also has a smartwatch available via Motorola MotoACTV (Motorola is now owned by Google). It was launched in late 2011 but has yet to be updated.