We first got eyes on the Apple Watch back in September with the unveiling of the iPhone 6, and now we are just a few hours away from the official announcement of the much anticipated watch. We already know some of the details surrounding the Apple Watch. It’s going to include a unique a processor known as the “S1”, a touch screen, WI-FI connectivity, Bluetooth connectivity, NFC (and thus support for Apple Pay) and finally, the most mind blowing feature of all – It also tells you the time!
It’s important to note that the Apple Watch is the first all new hardware device to be launched under Tim Cook.
The smart watch market it packed with competitors and rivals and Apple is relatively late to join the game. So is the Apple Watch going to revolutionise the market once again? Or is it going to fail miserably and take the path of the iPhone 5C? We look into five key questions to find out.
1. When is the Apple Watch going to hit the stores?
Rumours suggest that the Apple Watch may even be available during March (at least in the US). Further rumours suggest that Apple has an initial batch of roughly 6-7 million units available. How will these available units to allocated throughout the world? It would be reasonable to assume that Apple will use the “waves” tactic it uses with the iPhone launches. Thus, major markets such as the US and UK would be the first ones to get their hand on the watch with less significant markets getting it latter on.
2. What about the battery life?
Long battery life has always been a key feature in all Apple products, be it the Macbook laptops, iPads or iPods. According to internet rumours, the launch of the Apple Watch has been postponed until now specifically due to issues surrounding battery life. Tim Cook recently claimed that the Apple Watch would allow “a days work” before it needs charging. If this turns out to be true, it will be quite disappointing. Hopefully Apple has managed to overcome this issue and stay in touch with its reputation of providing excellent battery life.
3. What about pricing?
We know that the entry level model is going to cost $349. However, Apple is going to launch no less that 34 variants under three different lines and two different screen sizes. The highest end model is rumoured to be made of gold and could cost as much as $4000!
4. What can the Apple Watch actually do?
We already know that that Apple Watch is going to support Apple Pay, fitness tools and we will be able to show all our notifications on the device. Other that that, it’s quite a mystery, that should be solved in a few hours.
5. “One more thing”
The main focus of todays event is obviously the Apple Watch. However, we are also expecting to see some more minor announcements. Among them, iOS 8.2 that should lay the framework for Apple devices to work with the new Apple Watch. Also, historically, March has always been a month in which we saw updated Apple computers. We may see the much rumoured 12 inch Macbook Air although internet chatter on the the 12 inch Air has been minimal over the last few days suggesting that today might not be the day of the 12 inch Air.
