Apple aims to break new ground with Watch

Apple unveil his first watch today: bidding to produce a second product that, like the iPhone, redefines how millions interact with computers, smartphones and the internet.

Top of the range models in 18ct gold could cost as much as $10,000 (£6,700), with Apple reportedly expecting to sell a million per month by late summer. Basic models, offering identical functionality, are expected to start at $349, and total sales are expected to surpass 10m by the end of the year.

Chief executive Tim Cook previewed the Watch last year in Cupertino at the same venue where Steve Jobs unveiled the original Mac, with the company doing nothing to dampen fans’ expectations in the process

The new device will, however, primarily be marketed based on the health-tracking benefits it offers, as well as the time it will save people looking at other electronic devices. It will also make a virtue of its accurate timekeeping, seeking to appeal to an age group where Mr Cook acknowledges many have stopped wearing watch altogether. Much of this will come from gimmicks such as the ability for users to send each other heartbeat-style and tiny digital notes.

Analysts at Forrester believe 20 million people in America alone are “inclined to buy something new from Apple” and that this gives the company “an easy shot at converting 10 million people to buy Apple Watch between the US and international markets.”

More than 1m people could pay well over $1,000 for the Watch, marking Apple’s transition into a mass-market luxury brand, timed perfectly to coincide with the increasing homogenisation of smartphones.

Almost a third of European adults say they are intrigued by the idea of so-called wearable technology, and a third of those say the wrist is the best place for it. Half of all interactions with a mobile phone are quick glances, and Apple believes the Watch will replace the phone for many of those purposes, while also making an iPhone itself a more essential device.

As with the iPhone, however, the Watch must also prove that it can create a market where none meaningfully exists today. Despite efforts from LG, Motorola, Samsung, Pebble and a host of other manufacturers, the smartwatch market has none of the appeal of the smartphone.

Neil Cybart, author of the Above Avalon Apple blog, said: “Apple’s decision to embrace luxury is deliberate and likely taken in recognition that to be successful in the wearable space, a new strategy would be required.

“Consumers need to feel connected to a wearable accessory as the device becomes an extension of their personality. Apple’s new premium mass-market luxury brand will also help drive subsequent demand for new product categories that position fashion and emotion as key buying determinants, with materials utilized as differentiation between luxury items and premium mass-market goods.”

Other analysts, however, have suggested that the Watch does not offer any new features beyond those that are already available from other manufacturers, will need charging every night and will be obsolete within two years anyway.

Most, nonetheless, believe that the strength of Apple’s brand and the focus the $750bn company will apply to promoting the Watch as both a useful and fashionable device mean that it is already certain to become the best-selling model in the world. Companies seeking to develop apps for it are already thought to include major brands such as Nike and Salesforce.