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Will Apple get us to buy a Watch we don't need?

Written by George Anderson

Apple officially unveiled its Watch yesterday and here's what we know:

  1. Besides telling time, it receives e-mail, tracks fitness activity, plays music, enables purchases using Apple Pay and features apps from third-parties such as Target, eBay, Uber, Starwood Hotels, Nike and Instagram.
  2. The device comes in two sizes (38 and 42 millimeters) and three basic models — Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition — with prices ranging from $349 to $17,000.
  3. The battery life is 18 hours for all the models, which go on sale April 24. Pre-orders will begin on April 10.

Apple is promoting the new device for its form as well as function, hoping to get millions of people who do not currently wear a timepiece to see the Watch as a must-have fashion accessory.

"They've created a device that's desirable," Dan Ward, co-founder of Detroit Labs, a mobile app development firm, told the Los Angeles Times. "Design will sell, and Apple's products are gorgeous. They're not different from other products out there in terms of functionality, but they're beautiful devices with beautiful materials."

"It could do wonders for the watch market if it means people might wear watches again, but realistically, there are a lot of doubts," Eric Wilson, fashion news director of InStyle, told Reuters. "Fashion customers are more skeptical than anyone, so Apple has picked a tough crowd."

While Apple plans to make the Watch available in its 453 stores around the globe as well as online, less is currently known about whether other current partners such as Best Buy and Target will carry the device when it launches next month.

According to Reuters, Apple has had discussions with Nordstrom about the department store chain selling the Watch. Nordstrom has refused comment.

Analysts surveyed by Fortune, project the tech giant will sell 22.47 million Apple Watch units before the end of 2015. Only about two million smartwatches were sold worldwide last year, according to earlier estimates.

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