Apple Watch announced, priced $349-$10,000
April 24, 2015, is the official release date of the Apple Watch, which comes with a price range between $349 and $10,000 (yes, ten thousand dollars). Pre-orders start on April 10.
The official specs say it’s got an 18 hour life battery, so if you forget to charge it overnight you’ve got a dead item strapped to your wrist. Fortunately it should be a relatively quick charge, so this might be a non-issue.
There are two sizes in the intro category, the 38mm Sport Edition at $349, and a 42mm larger edition at $399. There’s another level of stainless steel regular “Watch” collection that starts at $549 and goes to $1,099.
And the top of the Apple Watch family there’s one called The Watch Edition, and is $10,000 at select Apple Stores. But you can say you’ve got that edition.
All in all with different bands and options there are currently 34 combos to choose from.
After two years of Android smart watches, I’ll be interested to see if Apple can bring anything new and interesting to the table or if this is just going to be an extension of your phone with some sensors thrown in for health monitoring.
Hopefully Apple Watch will have done it right and there’ll be a reason for the increased price. But in the end I can’t help but think of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy commentary on watches and how with the rise of the cell phone I thought we’d almost broken that vicious cycle.
[Tech Radar]
