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On Monday Apple made its long-awaited announcement about the Apple Watch. Anticipation has been growing since September when Apple first showed off its mini-computer you wear on your wrist.
Apple’s announcement demonstrated many of the cool features of the watch, most of which were revealed in September. The biggest news about the Watch was the pricing and the availability date.
The Apple comes in two sizes, 38 mm and 42 mm, and three different models:
- Sport
- Apple Watch
- Edition
The Sport Watch comes in aluminum with colored rubberized bands. The Apple Watch is made from steel and the Edition is encased in 18k yellow or rose gold.
The battery will be charged via a magnetic cable that snaps to the back of the Watch. Battery life was revealed to be 18 hours of normal use.
The Watch will connect to the iPhone and relies on that connection for many features including maps, GPS, notifications and phone calls.
Features
Features of the Apple Watch include a Retina display, animated images, a wide choice of watch faces, and the ability to send drawings, vibrations and your heartbeat to friends. You’ll be able to use your Watch with Apple Pay, to display an airline boarding pass, and to unlock your hotel room door.
Notifications
If you’re the type of person who pulls their phone out dozens of times a day, you’ll appreciate the convenience of getting notifications on your wrist. You’ll be able to feel a notification as the Watch vibrates and quickly glance down to see what’s going on.
The Watch can show you tweets, Instagram photos, Facebook updates and more. You can see when a call is coming in and even answer the call from your wrist. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple is clearly a Dick Tracy fan and is making fiction a reality by letting us use our Watches as phones.
Fitness Tracker
The Watch can monitor your fitness, keeping track of your workouts and how long you’ve been sitting at one time. The Watch can notify you when it’s time to get moving, giving you added incentive to be active.
Pricing
Prices for the Apple Watch are based on the model, size of the watch and the selection of bands:
Sport Watch
- $349 for the 38mm
- $399 for the 42mm
Apple Watch
- $549 – $1049 for the 38mm
- $599 – $1099for the 42mm
Edition
- $10,000 – $17,000
Availability
The Apple Watch will be available for pre-order beginning April 10. On that date you will be able to try out the Watch at Apple stores.
April 24 is the official launch date of the Apple Watch in: USA, UK, Australia, China, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Japan.
You can find out more information at the Apple Watch website.
Will the Apple Watch Sell?
The Apple Watch will sell well to die-hard Apple fans but to be truly successful it has to appeal to the general public. Wearables haven’t taken off yet, but Apple is known for recreating a market, as it did with tablets and the iPad, smartphones and the iPhone, and MP3 players and the iPod.
The biggest surprise was that the price range goes up to $10,000 as a starter price for the Apple Edition Watch. That price is quite steep for technology that may be obsolete in a year. Even if the inner workings of the Edition Watch can be replaced, next year’s Watch will probably be thinner and sleeker than this year’s Edition model.
Most of what the Apple Watch can do is based on apps that already exist on the iPhone already. Will people be convinced to wear a smart watch to get notifications?
So far the answer is No, even with less expensive smart watches such as the Pebble watch. The Pebble watch was launched two years ago and has sold 1 million watches, which is very successful for a start up company, but not for Apple.
So there has to be a killer app, such as Apple Pay or a health app, that gives the Apple Watch an advantage. If Apple delivers unique and useful features then people may be willing to pay a premium for the Apple Watch and make it a success.
Apple is also promoting the Watch as a fitness tracker. But people who play racquet sports may not want to wear a watch and may prefer a traditional fitness band. Runners may not want to have their iPhones close by to use the GPS feature.
If people just want a fitness tracker there are less available alternatives that may be a better fit for their sport. But the Apple Watch may succeed in spite of its limitations as a fitness tracker for all sports because of its many useful features.
As with the iPhone and iPad, apps will probably drive the success of the Apple Watch. If developers flock to the Watch, then its functionality will expand exponentially. If you could use a voice command to park your car, close the garage door, unlock your house and turn on your lights, well that would be pretty cool. So far, the Watch can do all of that, except park your car and that feature is getting closer.
Plenty of people have bet wrong when they underestimated Apple. Many hurdles stand in the way of the Apple Watch succeeding. But if any company can overcome those hurdles, it’s most likely Apple with its track record of success.
Your Thoughts
Are you excited about the Apple watch? Do you think it will be a hit or miss for Apple? Is there an Apple Watch in your future? Share your thoughts with us in the Comments section below!
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Carolyn is still away from the Internet and wrote this article using her iPhone on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. She will return on Monday, March 16 to respond to comments. Articles will continue to be posted here at The Wonder of Tech while she’s away.
Thanks Carolyn for – as usual – being right on top of the “latest and greatest” in tech.
For most mere mortals $10,000 and up is a lot of money for the exact functionality you get with a $349 version but the top of the line model is meant for people who don’t look at things that way. I believe there are people who will buy one for $17,000 that would not have bought it for $1,000. For them it’s all about prestige and bragging rights. Apple will be able to sell a gadget for $17,000 that cost about $1,500 to make. That’s the real genius at work.
Regarding what the Apple Watch will or won’t do, we have absolutley no idea right now. When the PC was introduced in 1981 (four years after the Apple II) it was thought to be primarily a device for secretaries to use since they did all the typing. The fact the managers, engineers and almost everyone in every office would use one was unthinkable. It took years for that to sink in. And when the iPhone was introduced eight years ago did anyone imagine there would be over a million apps available?
I think we’re just at the beginning of another dramatic change in the way we use technology and it will be several years before we see what those thousands of app developers can come up with for this exciting new platfrom. Apple is uniquely qualified to dominate this field since they have so many pieces in place and so many talented employees in their labs and in their stores. Pebble and numerous other products will likely go the way of the Apple II, Commodore Pet and Radio Shack TRS-80 computers of the early 80’s. At some point we will begin thinking of these new gadgets not as watches but as wearable computers.
Keep up the good work
Gary Braley
Hi Gary, Thank you for your kind words and fascinating insights. Excellent point about the $17,000 watch aging the same functionality as the $350 watch. The Edition watch certainly makes the less expensive models seem like a deal. People who want the prestige of owning expensive objects may be lured by the Edition, but perhaps the prestige trickles down a bit for all Apple watch owners?
You’re right, Apple has been able to draw in more app developers than anyone else, so there are already plenty of skilled folks hard at work creating watch apps. Certainly Apple watch apps are bound to be more plentiful and sophisticated because of the Apple ecosystem.
Time will tell (ha!) whether Pebble has any staying power. Their Kickstarter funding increased significantly after the Apple watch was announced. Competition is a good thing so I’m rooting for Pebble and Apple to succeed!
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for this useful information!
It was great that Apple has created an Apple Watch. I think, these watches are useful for those who have high mobility. Although I am interested to have it, but I feel I have not needed at this time. 🙂
Maybe someday, I’ll try it when I have enough money to buy it, since the prices are quite high..hahaha 😀
Thanks for sharing this review, Carolyn.
Keep up the good work. Have a great day! 🙂
~Nanda
i say amen to that brother
Apple watch will be sold like a hotcake for sure. They have gone through a different path as compared to Samsung, Sony and other smartphone manufacturer. However, it would be interesting to see how early the people adopts to it.
Also if the iOS used in smartwatch is easily jailbreakable, then we will see a huge follower as Cydia brings a whole new level of possibilities with it. I am pretty excited about the Aple watch
Hi Ricky, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! There certainly has been a lot of interest in the Apple Watch worldwide. Whether that interest translates into sales remains to be seen. Apple has a history of success and the Apple Watch may be another chapter in that history book!
i believe its not yet time, not yet
Hi Denis, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You’re right, it’s not time yet. But April 24 will be the time for Apple Watch to launch.