Apple Watch pricing and launch date announced – and Australia gets it first

Apple has revealed the pricing and release dates for the highly anticipated Apple Watch at a special launch event and good news is Australia will be one of the first countries to receive it.

The Apple Watch will go on sale on April 24 with pre-orders starting on April 10.

The Apple Watch will start at $499 for the 38mm Apple Watch Sport which is made of lightweight anodised aluminium and $579 for the 42mm version.

It will be available in silver or space grey with either white, blue, green, pink or black sport bands.

 

Moving up to the stainless steel Apple Watch (also available in silver and space black), the pricing will start at $799 for the 38mm and $879 for the 42mm model and move all the way up to $1629 depending on the type of watch band you choose.

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The $1629 Apple Watch stainless steel model is the 42mm version with the black stainless steel link bracelet.

And if money is no object you can opt for the Apple Watch Edition made of 18-Karat yellow or rose gold for $14,000 (38mm) and $17,000 (42mm). And these come with a plain white sports band. The most expensive Apple Watch Edition is the 42mm 18-Karat yellow gold with midnight blue classic buckle at $21,000.

Apple says the appeal of the Apple Watch is the ability to change up the look of the device with different watch faces and interchangeable watch bands.

There are five types of bands that start at $79 for the sport band, $229 for the stainless steel Milanese loop, $229 for the leather loop, $379 for the modern buckle and $679 for the link bracelet.

At the launch event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the Apple Watch would have an “all-day” battery that should run for up to 18 hours.

The Apple Watch will keep accurate time with 50 millisecond of UTC (universal time standard) and can be personalised with a range of watch faces and other functions.

Apple Watch requires an iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus to allow connectivity for notifications, messages, emails and phone calls which can be answered right on your wrist.

There will be a number of apps that will work on the Apple Watch from launch including Twitter, Instagram, WeChat, Nike+ Running, Shazam and Uber.

Users will also be able use Apple Pay with Apple Watch simply by waving the device over the terminal.

Apple says there are now more than 2,500 banks who have linked with Apple Pay and there is now triple the number of locations where it can be used.

Another demonstration of Apple Watch showed it can also be used as a boarding pass and also as a hotel room key so expect to see many more apps and partnerships to give the device even more versatility in our day-to-day lives.

On the health side, Apple Watch is a capable companion with a heart rate sensor and other tools to keep track of your activities and exercise.

There is a three-ring graphic that will allow users to tell at a glance how long they’ve stood, moved and exercised.

Also on board is Digital Touch that allows two Apple Watches to have direct communication. You can send a tap to get the other person’s attention and also send a sketch or even your current heart rate.

Glances are the easily accessible screens on Apple Watch which can be displayed by swiping up on the screen.

With Glances you set them to include the weather, live sports scores, news headlines and recent notifications.

Siri is also accessible through the Apple Watch so you can talk to it in the same way as you would on the iPhone.

Text messages and emails are also viewable on the Apple Watch and can be read and trashed from your wrist.

And when answering messages users can dictate that reply to Siri on the Apple Watch and send it either as text or as a recording.

Also announced at the Apple event were new health research apps that will turn the iPhone’s Health Kit into a research tool.

This means users can take part in research and provide feedback across a range of diseases like Parkinson’s, breast cancer and asthma.