The heavily-rumored iWatch was announced today, debuting as the Apple Watch in the “one more thing” portion of the event. The Apple Watch will offer significantly more functionality than just time-telling, featuring several health tracking sensors and functions and substantial integration with a paired iPhone via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in terms of notifications and communication.
Apple introduced the world to several category-defining products, the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “And once again Apple is poised to captivate the world with a revolutionary product that can enrich people’s lives. It’s the most personal product we’ve ever made.”
The Apple Watch features an innovative new interface. Instead of relying solely on a touch interface, the watch’s “digital crown” offers zoom, scrolling, and tap control to avoid obscuring the display with your fingers. It has a sapphire crystal display that senses touch and force via tiny electrodes built into it. The Apple Watch also has a “Taptic Engine” to provide discreet vibration feedback.
On the back, sapphire lenses detect heart rate and the internal gyroscope and accelerometer detect motion. Location information will come from the paired iPhone’s GPS receiver and Wi-Fi radio.
Three versions of the Apple Watch will be available: Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition. The versions differ in casing material, from stainless steel to aluminum alloy on the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport versions, to 18-karat rose or yellow gold on the Apple Watch Edition. Additionally, there will be two watch face sizes of each version: 38 mm and 42 mm. A variety of bands will be available made from leather, elastomer, and stainless steel. All models will charge inductively using a MagSafe-like adapter that snaps onto the back.
A new API will be available to developers so that they can create apps for Apple Watch and enable richer notifications from a paired iPhone. To monitor fitness, Apple Watch includes two apps: Fitness and Workout. Fitness tracks daily activities and movement while Workout tracks exercise sessions.
An iPhone is required to use an Apple Watch and it will work with the iPhone 5, 5s, 5c and the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models. Though details on battery life were not announced, Tim Cook described that charging will be easy with the magnetically-connected inductive charger “every night”. Apple Watch will be available in early 2015 and will start at $349.
You can see a film narrated by Jony Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, and find more information about Apple Watch on Apple’s site here: apple.com/watch/
UPDATE: Jared Nelson, Editor at our sister site TouchArcade.com, attended the event and got a little hands-on time with the Apple Watch today, which is now embedded below: