Apple has announced that its first smart watch will go on sale in nine countries on 24 April, with prices ranging from quite a lot to astronomical.
The Apple Watch was originally unveiled in September, but details were scant apart from its design and some information about its major features. However, Apple laid bare its first foray into wearable devices at a press conference on Monday.
As well as telling the time very accurately via a choice of watch faces, the Apple Watch is also a communication and information companion. It syncs with an iPhone to enable the wearer to send and receive messages, to retrieve emails and calendar not ifications, and glance at useful information such as the weather forecast, their location on a map, or the music they are listening to. Calls to an iPhone can also be answered on the Apple Watch as well.
"Apple Watch begins a new chapter in the way we relate to technology and we think our customers are going to love it," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
It also works with Apple Pay, so that consumers can use it to make contactless payments on terminals equipped with near-field communications (NFC) connectivity. It also fulfils the important smartwatch role of being a fitness tracker, measuring the wearer’s motions and heartrate and storing it on its Activity app.
As previously revealed, customers navigate the interface using the touch display and the Digital Crown, which resembles the winder on a traditional watch, but functions as a home button, allows the user to scroll and zoom the screen, and activates Siri, Apple’s digital assistant. Everyday use will drain the battery in approximately 18 hours, at which point it can be recharged wirelessly.
The Apple Watch offers two slightly different screen sizes and three different versions each with a choice of straps: the entry-level ‘Sport’, mid-market ‘Watch’, and the premium ‘Edition’ edition. The higher up the range, the more expensive the case, strap and screen materials.
"We can’t wait for people to start wearing Apple Watch to easily access information that matters, to interact with the world, and to live a better day by being more aware of their daily activity than ever before," said Cook.
Like every Apple product, it does not come cheap. An entry-level Sport will cost $349 (€325). Prices for the Watch range from $549-$1,099. Meanwhile, the Edition starts at an eye-watering $10,000.
Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. will be the first markets to sell the Apple Watch.
Analyst firm Ovum expects Apple to sell 10 million s martwatches in 2015 and for it to bring in revenues of $5 billion, driven by China.
However, "Apple will have to go beyond just a great design and materials if it wishes to take the Apple Watch to the mass market and convince iPhone users who don’t wear a watch to wear one," said Ronan de Renesse, lead analyst in Ovum’s consumer technology team.
"While the iPhone and the iPad redefined their respective device segments when they launched, the Apple Watch will not play that role," he predicted.
