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On Monday March 9, 2015 at 10.00 a.m. Pacific Time Apple´s CEO Tim Cook will officially present its first wearable to the world – The Apple Watch. Tim is expected to announce final details like pricing and most likely confirm its shipping date in April.
New Apple Watch - Hot Or Flop?
On Monday March 9, 2015 at 10.00 a.m. Pacific Time Apple´s CEO Tim Cook will officially present its first wearable to the world – The Apple Watch. Tim is expected to announce final details like pricing and most likely confirm its shipping date in April.
One key question remains: Will the Apple Watch become the industry´s much anticipated catalyst to ignite the global smartwatch and wearables market by offering true killer features? Or will consumers make it go down in tech history as the world´s most redundant gadget?
Apple fanatics are convinced that it´ll be a tech hit, others argue it´s just a lovely accessory and at best a fashion gadget, another group of people still have no clue why they would need it in the first place. Some even wonder why going retro and buying a watch whilst you could just use your (i)phone... And tech liberals are frustrated that to pair with an Apple Watch, you'll need at least an iPhone 5 or 6.
Both earlier iPhones and other phone platforms like Android are excluded. Well my dear friends, don´t forget this is an iPhone-owner's product!
So, will you buy one? Before you answer, please continue to read and find out more about Apple´s new watch and what you might get for your bucks (and what not):
What The Apple Watch Really Is

It´s some sort of digital grab bag: A fitness tracker, a music player, a communications device, a handheld portal to other apps, a virtual wallet making payments via Apple Pay, a remote control for Apple TV, an electronic key to open doors, and a smart control device to manage your house. It boasts swipe-to-glance features, voice-activated controls, and mail functionalities. It´s being charged via a combination of magnets and inductive charging.

What We Can Expect From The Apple Watch

Premium Pricing

It´s known that the Apple Watch will start at $349 in the US for the aluminum and glass Apple Watch Sport. Higher-end versions might easily cost up to $1,000 and beyond. Its flagship, the 18-karat-gold Apple Watch Edition will certainly be prized in the vicinity of a Cartier, Tag Heuer, or Breitling. The Apple Watch – following the company´s tradition - will be tried being positioned as a Veblengood, i.e. making it with higher prices even more aspirational and preferable.

Premium Quality

Although finally Swatch and some other Swiss watch makers have woken up and started developing at full speed their own smartwatches, the overall Swiss watch industry should expect some disruption and shake up. Not only since Apple hired Paul Deneve, the former head of the high-end French fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent and Patrick Pruniaux the former VP of Sales and Retail of TAG Heuer, it´s clear how serious the anyway design-obsessed Cupertino-based company is about superior design and top quality for its Apple Watch.

Unique Personalization

Apple´s watch will be all about personalization. It comes in two case sizes: 38mm and 42mm. Both of which can be set up to work on either your left or your right wrist. There will be three "collections:“ The WatchWatch Sport and Watch Edition. They all will come with the same rectangular design with rounded off corners and will be devided by different build materials: There will be six band types and 18 colors. The band types will be easily interchangeable thanks to a unique slide-out locking mechanism. Each watch comes with a variety of faces. From traditional designs to playful characters. Faces are extensively customizable, you can change colors, choose design elements, and add functionality. So one Apple Watch can have literally millions of different appearances.

Dedicated Ecosystem of Apps

The success of Apple's watch will strongly depend on the apps third-party developers will launch. Here are some apps which are known already:

Of course, there will be own Apple apps like Maps, itunes, Siri, Apple TV control, etc.), News apps (Yahoo News, Feed Wrangler), Social networking apps (Twitter, facebook, WeChat, Instagram, etc.), Travelling apps, Productivity apps, smart home apps, entertainment and leisure apps, etc.

Fitness will be a central element of the Apple Watch. Apple will offer its own fitness apps as well as third-party apps like Nike Plus, Fitness Spades, WaterMinder, Slopes, and many more. Four sapphire lenses on the back of the Apple Watch will measure heart rate by using a combination of infrared and LED technology. In a nutshell, the Apple Watch has the potential to become your preferred personal fitness trainer, tracking your everyday activities, proposing a workout plan, and monitoring your caloric burn.
So, Will The Apple Watch Be HOT Or NOT?

There are forecasts stating that Apple will ship anything between 15 and 20 million units in 2015. If we assume an average retail price of $700 per watch (which is even on the conservative side), the Apple Watch could generate between $10.5 and $14 billion of the company´s sales this year. 

Apple's first-generation watch will not be perfect. It´ll miss some top apps at launch, its rather poor battery life will be an issue, and pricing of its top models might be a stretch for many consumers. Also the wrist feel will be crucial, i.e. will consumers perceive it as a nice and comfortable feeling when wearing the Apple Watch? Will they consider the watch´s fit and finish being elegant and refined?

On the other side, there is an army of loyal Apple fans waiting for the next big thing. The latest huge success of the company´s iphone 6 range has significantly broadened the hub base for the new watch. 

Apple's popular brand, its cool marketing campaigns, its sophisticated personalization strategy, its very loyal fan base, its broad and deep retail presence, its pretty good apps ecosystem, and the well chosen "timing" of the launch will guarantee a strong uptake for the Apple Watch. At least in first few months. 

The ultimate question to be asked is not, if you NEED the new Apple Watch, but how desperately you WANT it and how well Apple makes you believe in it!

What do you think? Do YOU want one? Do YOU buy one? Or do YOU skip it and wait for the more advanced second generation of the Apple Watch?

Please join the discussion by leaving a comment below!

Best regards,

Andreas von der Heydt

*****

Andreas von der Heydt is the Head and Director of Kindle Content at Amazon in Germany. Before that he hold various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert and management coach. He also founded Consumer Goods Club. In his sparetime he works as a coach and mentor. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His articles have been published and quoted in Business Insider, WSJ Blog, World Economic Forum Blog, etc. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles reflect only his personal opinion.

Please click 'Follow' if you would like to hear more from Andreas in the future. Feel free to also connect via his Linkedin Group Coachingor Consumer Goods, or via Twitter and Facebook.

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photo: Six Colors
iTech Dunya

iTech Dunya

iTech Dunya is a technology blog that specializes in guides, reviews, how-to's, and tips about a broad range of tech-related topics..

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