Launching the Apple Watch The time machine

Apple wants to make smartwatches a mainstream technology. 

UNTIL around 1900, wristwatches were most popular among women. Men preferred pocket watches. That changed when time-keeping technology improved.

Male consumers gradually saw how much quicker it was to glance at their wrists, rather than reach into their pockets, to check the time. Apple made a similar pitch on March 9th at an event in San Francisco heralding the launch of its newest product, the Apple Watch.

Executives at the giant tech firm said that wearing one will let people look speedily at their wrists to get information and complete tasks that they used to have to grab their phones to do. According to Tim Cook, the boss of Apple, who in 2011 replaced the firm's late founder, Steve Jobs, the new watch “is the most advanced timepiece ever created”. In addition to keeping track of time, the watch can process voice commands, measure its wearer’s heart rate, act like a credit card at payment kiosks and provide alerts for incoming phone calls and e-mails. It can support many of the “apps” that are popular on smartphones, such as social networks and those that facilitate taxi hailing. The watch’s battery can last for a day before it needs more juice via a magnetic charger.

Yet in spite of Mr Cook’s bouncing optimism, Apple seems unlikely to turn its watch into the next big must-have gadget. Certainly, the watch will not match the success of previous products, such as the iPod or iPhone. This is true for two main reasons. First, Apple’s newest creation replicates many of the functions that the smartphone already makes so seamless, such as checking e-mail, receiving calendar alerts and communicating with friends. People are unlikely to want to shell out a sum between $350 (for the most basic model) to over $10,000 (for the high-end version) for something which has so few extra functions. Second, the Apple Watch is dependent on a nearby smartphone, which means that users will just be adding another device to their growing menageries instead of replacing one. This is not unlike selling someone a wristwatch that requires a pocket watch to work.