Apple is Now in the Watch Business, You buying?

09 Mar, 2015

Apple wants to move the Internet from your pocket to your wrist.

Time will tell if millions of consumers are willing to spend $350 on up – there’s an 18-karat gold version that starts at $10,000 – for a wearable device that still requires a wirelessly connected smartphone to deliver its most powerful features.

But CEO Tim Cook is selling the Apple Watch as the next must-have device, able to serve people’s information needs all day long, like no other tool has quite been able to do.

“Now it’s on your wrist. It’s not in your pocket or pocketbook,” Cook said before unveiling the new line on Monday. “We think the Apple Watch is going to be integral to your day.”

Apple wants this wristwatch – which piggybacks on a nearby smartphone’s Internet connection through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth – to be seen as so revolutionary that it requires its own new lingo.

So while the watch face provides most of the same information as smartphones do, the back of the watch sends “taptic feedback,” tapping the wrist to remind the wearer to get up and burn more calories.

“It’s like having a coach on your wrist!” gushed Cook, touting the potential health uses of a computer that sticks to your skin all day.

The gadget also introduces “digital touch,” a new way of messaging that enables people to draw and send little figures with their fingertips and have them arrive on a friend’s watch face dynamically, in the same way they were drawn.

As expected, the previously announced starting price of $349 is only for the entry-level Sport model. Prices range from $549 to $1,100 for the mid-range watch.

Apple Watch will be available for viewing at Apple stores on April 10 and go on sale April 24.

AP

Image AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

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