By Edwin Chan and Alexei Oreskovic
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc will begin selling its new watch on April 24, with the high end model starting at $10,000, the company said, rolling out its first new product in five years in a bid to extend its preeminence in mobile devices.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Monday announced details of the first product developed under his leadership, a watch that Apple hopes will transform the market of wearable technology.
The company provided a sneak preview of the “Apple Watch” in September, has shown it to fashionistas, and even bought a 12-page advertising spread in Vogue magazine, but fans and skeptics were eager for more details.
With a rectangular face of about 1.5 inches in the smaller of two sizes, the watch wirelessly tethers to an iPhone, measures heart rate, and can tap wearers on the wrist to signal a new message or appointment. The price will start at $349.
Apple has said the watch will be available on April 24, with pre-orders starting on April 10.
It is an open question whether Apple or anyone else can create a new market for watches. The first watches based on Google Inc’s Android Wear software became available last year.
Companies, including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Qualcomm Inc, collectively have not yet had a wearable hit. More companies are expected to test the waters this year, including possibly Xiaomi Technology Co Ltd, China’s largest maker of smartphones.
Meanwhile, traditional watch brands such as Swatch are beginning to make timepieces with features such as activity tracking.
Roughly 4.6 million smartwatches were shipped in 2014, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Analysts estimate that Apple could sell anywhere from 10 million to 32 million Apple Watches in 2015. By comparison, Apple sold about 15 million iPads in 2010, after an April launch.