Apple introduced the much anticipated Apple Watch on Monday, March 9, 2015, after the teaser we got last year and despite the hoopla, this will go down as one of Apple failed products.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said “Apple watch is the most personal device we have ever created.  It’s not just with you. It’s on you.”  It comes in three different models, Watch Sport, Watch and Watch Edition.  With starting price for the entry mode at $349, the mid-level at $549 and the 18-karat gold will go for a hefty $10,000.  Yes, folks that was not a typo, that is ten thousand dollars.
Main features include fitness tracking, displaying text of email and answering phone calls. Â It also has an “all-day battery”, which in Apple’s world means 18 hours. Â However those features are not new as their competitors such as Pebble, Moto 360, Samsung already have all of those features and much more. Â Samsung’s latest smartwatch can actually make calls without an attachment to the smartphone and Sony’s new SmartWatch 3 has 2 days of battery life.
One thing that we can credit the Apple watch for is that it actually looks nice, but unfortunately, that is is the only thing we can say.
Research firm, Strategy Analytics, expects Apple Watch will sell over 15 million Apple Watches worldwide in 2015 and taking over half the smartwatch market. Â Last year, combined sales for smartwatch was about 4.6 million units from all vendors.
It will be interesting to see if Apple even comes close to that number as introducing a smartwatch in a crowded market with fewer features and the hefty price tag does not bode well for Apple. Â We know there will always be a fanboy or fangirl who will buy anything Apple, Â but unlike the smartphone which is actually useful, the smartwatch is not. Â And walking around with a $10,000 timepiece on your wrist might also prove dangerous for your health.
