Apple Watch to be released in the spring
There is a lot of anticipation around Apple Watch, the company's first wearable device. It's predicted to shakeup the wearable technology industry. But since the company released the Apple Watch on Sept. 9, Apple has only said it was coming out in early 2015.聽
Now, thanks to a reportedly leaked memo to , we have a better idea as to when the technology might be available in stores. In a video address to employees,聽Angela Ahrendts,聽Apple's senior vice president of retail and online stores, said the Apple Watch would be launched after the Chinese New Year, which is on Feb. 19. That is later than聽originally聽anticipated.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going into the holidays, we鈥檒l go into Chinese New Year, and then we鈥檝e got a new watch launch coming in the spring,鈥� Ms. Ahrendts said, according to 9to5mac. 海角大神 could not independently verify the document.
Apple Watch is Apple's first wearable device. The sleek watch is built to be a companion with an iPhone. Apple wants the watch to be something different, not just an iPhone on your wrist. The Apple Watch will be connected to Apple Pay, have Siri, and will have聽apps specifically developed for the technology. The watch will come in two sizes and three styles: Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition. One of the major selling point for the watch is its ability to track the users activity. Apple watch can track users activity through health apps and sensors in the back of the watch's interface.聽Apple Watch starts at聽$349.
"This isn鈥檛 the first ever smartwatch and it doesn鈥檛 really do anything other smart watches don鈥檛 do, but what it does do, it does better than the competition thanks to Apple鈥檚 user interface expertise," wrote Karen Haslam of . "Apple has paid an enormous amount of attention to every last detail of this watch and it shows."
The wearable tech industry is growing. In 2013, the wearable tech market was worth $1 billion, but its expected to be worth $37 billion by 2020,聽. Other companies have released their own version of wearable technology. In early September, Sony introduced its聽SmartWatch 3, which it isn't available yet. Fitbit, a wearable fitness tracker, created the most popular wearable tech devices. Of the 2.7 million wearable devices shipped worldwide in the first quarter of 2014, 50 percent of them were Fitbits, .
Though Apple is entering the wearable tech market late, its entry into the market could be a catalyst for making wearable devices widely popular.
"Apple will legitimize and create the mass-market wearables category," J.P. Gownder, an analyst at Forester Research group, .
