With the first models due in April, the most
eagerly awaited product since the iPad is
predicted to sell in the millions
Apple Watch Apple
Apple Watch has a range of looks.
Photograph: Apple/Rex Features
Stuart Dredge
Friday 6 February 2015 02.15 EST
“Development for Apple Watch is right on
schedule, and we expect to begin shipping in
April,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook told
analysts in a recent financial earnings call.
The company’s most eagerly awaited product
since the iPad is within touching distance,
but can it live up to the hype, and prove that
smartwatches are more than just a novelty
geekcessory?
Some of those analysts have high hopes, with
predictions for Apple Watch sales in 2015
ranging from 10 million to 30 million units.
This is despite the fact that the device’s
pricing remains mysterious: the cheapest
model will cost $349 in the US, but the price
of the Sport and Edition versions remains
unknown.
In many ways, Apple Watch’s debut
resembles past launches by the company,
from iPod to iPhone, when it let other
companies make the running, learned from
their successes and mistakes, then entered
the market with its own slick competitor. In
late 2014, a poll by Ipsos Mori found that only
1% of Brits owned a smartwatch, which
suggested that early efforts from the likes of
Pebble, Motorola, Samsung and LG had failed
to appeal beyond the earliest of adopters.
Time for Apple to storm in with something
better? The company won’t solve all the
problems that have made smartwatches a
niche. For example, battery life: “We think
you’re going to end up charging it daily.
Overnight,” said Cook in October. The biggest
challenge faced by the Apple Watch, though,
is to answer the simple question: what is a
smartwatch for? Health-tracking might be a
good answer now; contactless payments
perhaps in the longer term; and the notion of
breaking the cycle of smartphone-checking
rudeness has potential.
Smartwatches are clever devices in search of
problems to solve: not just a design and
engineering challenge, then, but a marketing
challenge. Which, given its maker, might be
exactly why the Apple Watch stands the best
chance yet of taking the smartwatch beyond
the early adopters.
Stay healthier
Health and fitness is going to be a major
selling point. Its sensors will track your
activity – including how much (or little) you
stand up – suggest weekly goals and feed
data back to your iPhone’s health app.
Zoom and scroll
Apple is very proud of its watch’s digital
crown. Rotate it, and the menus will ZOOM AND SCROLL – it’s a way around the
impracticality of using the iOS “pinch”
gesture on a screen this small.
Choose your face
Yes, the Apple Watch can tell the time,
alongside its whizzier features. It’ll offer a
large choice of customisable faces, from
traditional analogue designs to digital
displays – and even a face that’s a 3D model
of the solar system.
Buy with Apple Pay
In the US, the Apple Watch will also use its
maker’s new Apple Pay technology, enabling
owners to slap their wrists down to pay for
goods and services. As Apple Pay launches
elsewhere in the world, so overseas watches
will be able to use the feature too.
At the flick of an eye …
Expect to hear the word “glance” a lot around
Apple Watch this year: the notion that quick
eye-flicks towards your wrist will let you
leave your iPhone in your pocket more often.
That includes notifications of new messages,
and the ability to quickly check, flag and/or
trash incoming emails.
No comments:
Post a Comment