Announced in September, the Apple Watch is nearly here; expected to ship in April. There are still many remaining questions about the wearable and Apple is likely to answer them all at its “Spring Forward” event in San Francisco at 10am PT, Monday, March 9.
I’ll be on the scene, live-blogging the event right here, sharing more about the device’s features and pricing as the product story unfolds. It’s also possible we see other new, or updated products, such as a 12-inch MacBook Air. Tune in right here for all of the details as the event unfolds and don’t hesitate to leave your Apple Watch questions in the comments; I’m sure to get some hands-on time with the newest watch that doesn’t have hands to get you some answers.
Update: Here’s what Apple announced.
- Apple Watch ranges in price from $349 to over $10,000; on sale April 24
- Apple debuts a thin, fanless MacBook that comes in gold
- Apple has tripled the number of stores accepting Pay in 5 months
- Apple launches ResearchKit to bring your data to medical research
- HBO officially announces April launch of HBO Now at Apple event
First thought: It will sell well, but not tens of millions in the first year as some have forecast. The price limits the audience a bit; I don’t see my kids or their friends buying one, for example, even though many of them have iPhones.
Outside of the pricing, there really wasn’t much “new” here about Apple Watch that wasn’t already known. I thought there might be something more surprising about the device. Hmmm…..

I think Apple will make a mint on the bands; these can add hundreds of dollars to your purchase. Now we’re getting a look at the first ad.
April 24 availability in many countries in the world.

Pre-orders start April 10 and previews in stores then as well.
I’ll take 2. (No not really)
Tim talking about Apple Watch Edition with 18k solid gold and custom bands. Limited quantities. From $10,000 on up. Wow.
Here comes the pricing for Apple Watch in stainless steel. $549 to $1049 for 38mm based on brand. $50 more for the 42mm sizes.

And the sizing does something that few others are offering: a smaller version that can appeal more to women (and guys with small wrists like me)
I’m not surprised by the different pricing for the sizes, by the way; that’s pretty standard in the watch industry.
Another video because the stainless steel in Apple Watch “is no ordinary stainless steel,” says Tim.
$349 for Apple Watch sport: 38mm model. $399 for the 42mm model.
This is all about the process of creating the alloy. Not as exciting as the Mac Pro video from last year.
We’re getting a video to show us the aluminum used in the Sport. A new custom designed alloy: 60% stronger but just as light.
Apple Watch Sport

“All day battery life across a range of activities.” Expect 18 hours in a typical day, Tim says.
iOS 8.2 includes Apple Watch app; available for download today.

Tim says all of the app downloads and such are initiated in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
And Tim is back.
Voice dictation for messaging (yes, we’re jumping around from feature to feature very quickly) works like on iOS. You can speak and send either the text or the audio recording of what you said. Kevin just opened a garage door from the watch with a live feed that we could view on the watch. That’s going to be big: smart home apps on the wrist.
Shazam app shows album art and lyrics on your watch after identifying a song. Nifty.

We’re getting a look at the SPG hotel app now. Aside from the details of your booking, the watch opens your room door.
The Wi-Fi and BLE aspect could be nice for controlling home devices from the watch.
Passbook integration works too: boarding passes, for example, will just appear on the watch at the right time. So far, everything is really an extension of what you can do on iPhone.
So far, it *looks* easier to get at apps on Apple Watch than on Android Wear. Hands on time will tell us more, of course.

Kevin is taking a call on the watch now. Obviously over the event speakers it sounds loud and good. In real life? We’ll have to see. Phone calls work over BT and WiFi with an iPhone, just like on the Mac

Now Kevin is simulating the watch “when you get home from work.” He changed his watch face, for example. Would be nice if it knew you were home and changed to a “home” face for you.
For Apple Pay on the watch, just pick the credit card and place your watch near the terminal; you’ll hear a beep and get haptic feedback when you pay.
You can disable the reminders to get up and move if you’ve been sitting too long.
Interesting; Siri doesn’t respond through that speaker. At least not in this demo. Hmmm…. You can say “Hey Siri” at any time on the watch.
Kevin is highlighting the notifications and glances feature for “when you’re at work.”

WatchKit released in November. “Developers have been creating thousands of apps since then.” Kevin Lynch on stage to give us some app demos.
Full iOS notification support of course. ESPN notification just got a big round of applause.
Now on to the apps and other features: Apple Pay, photo viewing (meh), control music and use Siri.
You can follow Burn’s marathon training — she has the London race coming up — on line.
She’s sharing how the Apple Watch helped her during the marathon. Elevation, pace and such. Again, similar story with other similar devices.

Burns has joined Tim on stage now.
Burns says the Apple Watch provides motivation for training and everyday things. This story is pretty similar for most other smartwatches.

Tim says they gave Apple Watch to Christy Turlington Burns; fashion model and health advocate. She ran a half marathon with the Watch; we’re getting a video look.

Watch will set activity goals for you like a coach. Nice. These are all native features by the way; not third-party apps.
On to health bits: Watch tracks steps and activity. Reminds you when you’ve been sitting too long.
Tim’s showing the Digital Touch feature; draw on your watch and the drawing appears on a friend’s Apple Watch. Sending a heartbeat as well. Again, this is a recap. Not sure it’s a compelling feature but I’m sure people will find it interesting.
We’re getting a recap on the message features. A tap on the wrist when a message comes in. There is a speaker and mic so you can take calls on the watch; not just accept them but actually talk to the wrist.

Swipe from the bottom for Glances: weather, calendar, music controls, heart rate.
Tim is showing various watch faces here; again, the personalization factor at work. You can add details to a face and show data you want.

Accurate to within 50 milliseconds. I’d guess our phones are too though. ;)
“Apple Watch is the most advanced timepiece ever created.”
Talking about how personal these devices are and the various options to personalize your choice.

Time for the Apple Watch! Tim is back on stage.
“New MacBook joins the MacBook Air.” Airs are staying and getting upgraded (available today) with faster flash memory and fifth-gen Intel chip. MacBook Pro is getting the Force Touch trackpad.
$1299 to start. Wow. There was a pause and *then* everyone clapped. Think they were like me: hoping for less. Shipping on April 10.
Phil is back. Prices, please?

We’re watching a video of the device; still waiting on price. Going out on a limb and saying $899 for base model. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
This addresses what people might not like about their current MacBook Air: the screen. Now… will the old 11 and 13 inch MacBook Airs go away? I’m thinking not; at least not for a while.
“The world’s most energy efficient notebook,” says Phil. All in all, sounds nice but we’re still waiting on price. Retina, Type C USB, portable, all day battery life. Chip is power efficient but not super powerful though.
Same colors available as the iPhone. Wow. Silver, space gray and gold.
Video, data and power all in one.

That Type C port replaces a bunch of others.
802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 as you’d expect. Looks like a Type C reversible USB for charging. Wonder if they’ll have integrated LTE too. That would be super nice.
Apple is using stacked battery tech or contoured cells. 9 hours of web browsing. Well, I was way off on that.
Removing the fan keeps the logic board small. Intel Core M processor up to 1.3GHz. Chip consumes 5W of power. Rest of the saved space inside the MacBook is for battery. Guessing a ridiculous run time here on a charge: I’ll say 20+ hours.

This goes far beyond tap to click. And it shows how Apple is bridging hardware / software features from mobile devices to traditional computers. Force taps from the watch come to the MacBook, for example.
Curious if really improves the trackpad experience because MacBooks already had great trackpads. Force sensors can measure pressure on the trackpad for different interactions.
Phil says the new display uses 30% less energy without losing brightness. Track pad has a taptic engine for feedback.


Screen size is 12-inches, edge to edge cover glass. Retina display too. 2304 x 1440 pixels.
New keyboard improves on the old scissor mechanism; uses something that Apple calls a butterfly mechanism. 4x more stable; less key wobble, Phil says.

24% thinner than the old MacBook Air.
Big trackpad; like REALLY big. Weighs 2 pounds. Interesting they haven’t called it an Air yet. 13.1mm thin at its thickest point.

Phil Schiller on stage to introduce the new MacBook

Video showing us an edge to edge keyboard. Here it comes!

Tim’s talking about the Mac growth compared to the industry and how portability is key. New MBAir?

Time to talk about the Mac.
And now Tim is back.
ResearchKit will be added to over time and will be made open source to help the most people possible, regardless of platform. First 5 apps available today; ResearchKit available next month.
The privacy aspect here is key. There aren’t many more personal items than one’s health data. So far, news of that got the biggest applause from the crowd.
Wow: 60,000 letters sent out for a research study from U of Penn; only a tad over 300 participants. With ResearchKit that can jump up to a much higher number since people may already be tracking their health on phones.
Getting a video now from researchers who worked on the apps.
From a privacy standpoint, users decide if they want to participate and who can see the data. Apple will not get the data.
Apps for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma and more. Love this idea; getting research data (both the researchers and the patients) long before study results would be compiled.

The iPhone becomes a diagnostic tool with these apps, which are specific for diseases.

ResearchKit just announced to help tackle this issue with the 700 million iPhones sold. Researchers can create apps for data.
Infrequent data is a challenge as well, as is one-way communication from a medical research study. Seems like a near real-time system would be helpful here.
“One of the biggest challenges medical researchers have is recruiting. Small sample sizes are a problem which limits our understanding of diseases.”
Tim’s inviting Jeff Williams up to discuss Medical Research with iOS / Health.

900 apps that work with Health on iOS.
Back to iPhone now. Tim’s talking about CarPlay, HomeKit and Health. “Every major car brand has committed to deliver CarPlay.” Hmmm….. I wonder who’s on and who is now on that list.
40,000 Coke vending machines take Apple Pay in the U.S. now. Plans for 100,000 soon.
Whew, now on to Apple Pay. Lots of little updates here to save time (no pun intended) for the watch, I suppose. Apple now has 700,000 Apple Pay locations in the U.S.

Tim’s talking about the growth rate for iPhone; faster than the market. Not surprised because many people really wanted bigger handsets a while back. Now that they’re here, people are scoffing them up. (And they laughed when I bought a phablet in 2011. HA!)
Time for an iPhone update. 700 million iPhones sold at this point.
Those Chromecasts and other low-cost streaming sticks have put some price pressure on Apple TV for sure.
Looks like a price cut today: $69 for Apple TV.
And Tim is back on stage. “Apple TV has become the category leader.” 25 million sold to date.
Even though I read the books multiple times, I stopped watching after season 2 or 3. I can’t unsee this now. UGH! Oh well. Good news for cord-cutters.
NO SPOILERS, NO SPOILERS!!!! PLEASE!!!!
We’re getting a Game of Watches, er Thrones trailer now.
$14.99 a month starting in April; first month free if you sign up next month. Can watch on Apple TV or iOS devices.

HBO Now is exclusive at launch to Apple. You’ll get the entire TV and movie catalog.
HBO CEO, Richard Plepler, is coming on stage with “exciting news.” Here comes the HBO cost-cutter plan me thinks.
Oh, not a hardware update, but an update on info. Talking HBO now.

Apple TV update. OOH! Long overdue.
120 million visitors to Apple stores in the last quarter. Wow.
That China store is massively big. 21 stores in China now for Apple. Plan to be at 40 by mid-2016. 453 total stores says Tim.

Here’s Tim Cook on stage, now. Video was the opening of latest China Apple Store.

Big video focus on China, which of course, is becoming very big business for Apple.
Focus seems to be on Apple stores. That could be a big story today: a revamp or special stores for the Watch.
And we’re starting! Lights dimmed and a video playing.
That’s a story that’s been told before though. At our recent Gigaom Roadmap event, we had a session on how wearables can reduce distraction from the phone and give you time back: https://gigaom.com/2014/11/19/how-good-wearable-design-can-actually-reduce-tech-distractions/
Will another part of that story be around how much time the Apple Watch can save you from your phone? I’m betting yes, complete with detailed data on just how much.
So before the event starts, I’m still wondering what “story” will be told here today. Surely the watch is centered around notifications, apps and health. Will there be any other surprise factor?
Oh and I’m certainly not the only one wearing a Pebble here; I see them on a lot of wrists. Interesting.

Whew! Finally inside for today’s Apple event in San Francisco. I arrived 2 hours early and, of course, the line had already started.

Of course, he’s a bit of a rebel, wearing a Pebble smartwatch at the Apple Watch launch event.
10 minute warning until the festivities start. Our very own Kevin Tofel is making his way into the auditorium.

Tim is wrapping up now and thanking the Apple Watch team. Time for some hands on time to see the Apple Watch up close. I’ll have some additional thoughts later today in a post after I digest the information and my experience. Thanks for following!