Internet moves out of pocket
SAN FRANCISCO Internet from your pocket to your wrist.
Time will tell if millions of consumers are willing to spend $350 on up — there’s an 18-karat gold version that starts at $10,000 — for a wearable device that still requires a wirelessly connected smartphone to deliver its most powerful features.
But CEO Tim Cook is selling the Apple Watch as the next must-have device, able to serve people’s information needs all day long, like no other tool has quite been able to do.
“Now it’s on your wrist. It’s not in your pocket or pocketbook,” Cook said before unveiling the new line on Monday. “We think the Apple Watch is going to be integral to your day.”
Apple wants this wristwatch — which piggybacks on a nearby smartphone’s Internet connection through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — to be seen as so revolutionary that it requires its own new lingo.
So while the watch face provides most of the same information as smartphones do, the back of the watch sends “taptic feedback,” tapping the wrist to remind the wearer to get up and burn more calories.
“It’s like having a coach on your wrist!” gushed Cook, touting the potential health uses of a computer that sticks to your skin all day.
The gadget also introduces “digital touch,” a new way of messaging that enables people to draw and send little figures with their fingertips and have them arrive on a friend’s watch face dynamically, in the same way they were drawn.
Convincing consumers they can’t live without an expensive new device isn’t easy, but Apple’s strongest selling points include “convenience and immediacy,” along with high-end design features and some useful new apps, said Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Kantar Worldpanel.
“If you don’t have to be fumbling around for your phone, that can make a difference,” agreed analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.
Initial consumer reactions ranged from die-hard Apple fans vowing to buy the watch immediately, to naysayers who don’t see the point of paying so much to see updates on their wrist instead their smartphone.
“I think it’s a tough market they are trying to get into, and I don’t see much promise that is going to come out of it,” said Joshua Powers, 21, a junior at Emerson College in Boston who owns an iPhone, an iPad and a MacBook computer.
As expected, the previously announced starting price of $349 is only for the entry-level Sport model. Prices range from $549 to $1,100 for the mid-range watch. That’s not out of line for a high-quality watch, analysts said.
