Apple Watch is official
After many long years of speculating and rumour-mongering, Apple has finally revealed its smart watch.
Debunking earlier reports that the device would be called the iWatch, CEO Tim Cook announced that the device would simply be called the Apple Watch.
Cook said that Apple’s smart watch would redefine what people have come to expect from the product category, saying that the company has done a lot of work to design the touch user interface for smaller screens.
“What we didn’t do is take the iPhone user interface and shrink it to the watch’s screen,” Cook said.
Instead, Apple decided to repurpose the rotary dial common on analogue watches — the crown — for digital purposes.
Calling it the “digital crown”, Cook said that turning the crown performs functions such as zooming in on maps and scrolling lists.
“It does all of this without blocking the screen,” Cook said.
Pressing the crown returns the device to the home screen, “just as you would expect it to,” he added.
In a video running through some of the features and the design of the watch, Apple’s design lead Jony Ive said that the Apple Watch would come in two sizes and three styles.
There will also be multiple strap styles available for the watch, Apple said.
The three collections are:
- Apple Watch, with a polished case made from stainless steel
- Apple Watch Sport, with an anodised aluminium case
- Apple Watch Edition, which is made from 18 karat gold, promises to be up to twice as hard as standard gold
Apple Watch will work with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5s.
Apple said its smart watch is scheduled to go on sale in “early 2015”, and will start at a recommended retail price of $349.
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