Facebook stated this week that it would release a smartwatch next summer. The $400 smartwatch would, according to sources, have two cameras and an LTE connection.

So, why is the world's most popular social networking platform entering the fiercely competitive smartwatch market? The answer, in our opinion, lies in Facebook's desire to reduce its reliance on Apple and gain control of the future mobile computing platform — augmented reality (AR). According to Facebook, the interface for AR will be a wrist gadget.

What is the significance of the wrist? "It is placed right next to the major instruments you use to interact with the world - your hands," Facebook says.

Electromyography sensors worn on the wrist capture motor nerve signals travelling from the brain to the hand, translating and relaying the information to AR glasses, allowing users to control their new augmented reality with simple hand motions. This demonstration demonstrates how this technology works - take a look!

While we don't expect this technology to be included in the first few iterations of Facebook's wristwatch, the two projects are likely to converge in the future. If that's the case, a pair of glasses plus a watch, rather than a phone, could represent the future of mobile computing.