Apple Watch
After months of speculation, Apple unveiled its first foray into wearables on Tuesday: the Apple Watch.
The device, available in two sizes and in a variety of different styles, allows users to receive and send text messages, take calls and monitor your health and fitness throughout the day, all from your wrist.
The price starts at $349 and will launch early next year. It will also work with smartphones as far back as the iPhone 5.
The device made an appearance at the company’s iPhone 6 launch event in Cupertino, California, on Tuesday, marking the company’s first new product category since the introduction of the iPad in 2010. The touchscreen device, with an unscratchable sapphire display, will work alongside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
“We’ve been working on Apple Watch for a long time,” Cook told attendees. “It’s the most personal device we’ve ever created.”
Apple Watch will also get a collection of apps include Starwood, Twitter, BMW and American Airlines. Developers can use the WatchKit platform to create programs for the device that take advantage of the larger battery and processing power in the iPhone.
At the event, Apple also revealed the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, which will run on iOS 8. While leaked images and specs for the iPhone 6 have trickled out over the past several weeks, details about the Apple Watch (including the name) have largely remained a secret. Many believed the name would be iWatch.
The rectangular-shaped smartwatch can be personalized beyond the interface, with six different straps (made of leather, metal and plastic) and a mechanism that makes them interchangeable. It also comes with a custom-designed chip — the S1, which is below the haptic sensor, and it’s built from custom alloys of stainless steel, aluminum and 18-karat gold.
Like the iPhones, Apple Watch comes with voice-activated assistant Siri, which can be accessed by holding down the digital crown to activate. It will also work with Apple Pay, which allows users to pay from items from various retailers (including Macy’s, Duane Reade, Walgreens, Toys R Us and more).
Tim Cook announced the product with the iconic “”one more thing” phrase used by Steve Jobs during special launches. It was the first he’s used the saying since Jobs’ death.
“It’s the next chapter in Apple’s story,” he said.
The Apple Watch debuted at the Flint Center, the same venue where Steve Jobs first unveiled the Mac personal computer in 1984.
Apple famously meticulously manages every detail when it comes to product rollouts, so the selection of the Flint Center indicated the company had something special planned for today. It also raised eyebrows earlier this week when Apple invited members of the fashion media to the event, a unique move for the company which typically invites only tech press to its events.
Source: Samantha Murphy Kelly / Mashable
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