SAN FRANCISCO — Apple wants to move the Internet from your pocket to your wrist.
Time will tell if millions of consumers are willing to spend $350 on up — there’s an 18-karat gold version that starts at $10,000 — for a wearable device that still requires a wirelessly connected smartphone to deliver its most powerful features.
But CEO Tim Cook is selling the Apple Watch as the next must-have device, able to serve people’s information needs all day long.
Convincing consumers they can’t live without an expensive new device isn’t easy, but Apple’s strongest selling points include “convenience and immediacy,” along with high-end design features and some useful new apps, said Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Kantar Worldpanel.
As expected, the previously announced starting price of $349 is only for the entry-level Sport model. Prices range from $549 to $1,100 for the mid-range watch.
Numerous tech companies are already selling smartwatches, like the Samsung Gear and Motorola’s Moto 360. Many run on Android Wear, the software platform from Google, and range from $100 to $500 or more.
Cook hinted at bigger goals when he announced Monday that Apple has worked with leading medical institutions to develop an open-source software platform for iPhones to assist with medical research.
He stopped just short of saying that Apple Watch, in combination with the iPhone, could be a key conduit for two-way delivery of health care information, sending data about a person’s metabolism to researchers while also reminding wearers to take their medicine or go exercise.
For example, Apple executive Jeff Williams showed a new iPhone app that can track indicators of Parkinson’s disease by using a phone’s accelerometer to measure a user’s walking gait and its microphone to test for voice tremors.
Apple Watch will be available for viewing at Apple stores on April 10 and go on sale April 24.
