[NewsPoster]

On Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives spent the majority of their time during the press event held today talking about the forthcoming Apple Watch. The company finally iterated pricing for the device, one of the biggest mysteries concerning the debut, by saying the Sport version would start at $349 ($399 for the men's model), while the regular model would begin at $549 to $1,040 ($50 more for the 42mm men's watch size), and the deluxe Edition version, which features a solid 18-karat gold body, would be available from $10,000. The Apple Watch will officially open for pre-orders at retail on April 10, and demos are available at Apple Stores. It will debut on April 24 at retail.

One of the major portions of the event was given over to demonstrations of various apps that will be available for the Apple Watch on or near its retail debut. Among the apps demonstrated during the presentation (headed by Kevin Lynch, formerly of Adobe, who headed up the software team) were notifications from ESPN, CNN and Facebook, along with WeChat (a popular chat app in China), Apple Pay, Instagram, Uber, American Airlines, Starwood Hotels, Shazam, and an Alarm app, which was demonstrated as remotely opening a garage door at Lynch's home to let in a child who had forgotten their key.

Cook elaborated officially on the power needs of the device, saying that while it would still need to be charged each night, it was expected to run "a full day" thanks to a number of power-saving techniques, such as not illuminating the screen until the device is brought up to view. He specifically claimed that with "typical use," the watch battery would last up to 18 hours -- a notable improvement on previous claims. After the event, Apple clarified that the water-resistance rating of the device as IPX7 -- resistant enough for washing hands and possibly quick showers, but not waterproof for submersion in water as with swimming.

Cook also confirmed that the Watch would feature at least 8GB of storage in all versions, capable of holding up to 2,000 songs that can be played via Bluetooth headsets without requiring an iPhone to be within range. This allows runners to simply take only the Watch with them on a run, though they will sacrifice a certain level of data collection about the run. The Watch will be able to collect basic location information and other data like heartrate, which will augmented by the iPhone once the two are reconnected.

[iphonerulez]

I'd only need about 100 or so songs to go on a run, so that's plenty of music for me and I've got about three BT dongles that I can plug headphones into. Good enough for how I'd use it. I only need the sensors to collect data and don't need to constantly monitor it on the display. It looks like I won't have any issues at all with owning the 42mm Sport or Stainless model. However, the Edition is way beyond my means and I never intended to buy one at even $5000. I'm not disappointed at all and this pretty much exceeds my expectations for the first AppleWatch.

WATCH edition for $10,000?

*screaming and laughing* - This has to be the laughing stock of the jewelry market!

Oh, mah, word, I seriously just want to talk like this every time I see such a hideously outrageous price tag :facepalm:

[mac_in_tosh]

Not interested...What's next, the Apple Ring?

[Charles Martin]

And.reg: yeah, that solid gold Apple Watch is laughably ... underpriced.

I take it you've never been in the market for a high-end gold timepiece. I haven't either ... but I am aware of what they sell for. $10K is on the low end.

Just because something isn't squarely aimed at you doesn't mean it's "outrageous." Ask any boat owner what they've spent on that 'luxury" if you want to talk about throwing money away. Or any small-craft airplane owner. Or any serious record collector, et cetera.

People "waste" that much every year on their silly little hobbies. From what I can see, the Apple Watch Edition does a lot more than the typical gold timepiece, for thousands less than average.

It's all in how you look at it.

Why? Are there any more platinum/gold gears inside WATCH edition that aren't in sport or regular? How much more resistant are the gears in edition vs. in others? Does Apple have a different gear oil for WATCH edition? What features (other than wristband, tone, display hardness, and bullion) does Edition offer over sport? As far as I can tell, the mechanisms are the same in all the models, just different toning, wristband, and bullion, and (I think) a harder glass on edition.

With that being said, wait until someone pays $10,000 for edition, then drops it, gets a ding/scratch on the face, and goes all nuts to shell out the cash to get it fixed (a week later...)

Listen I went through a "Oooh I want a fancy watch" phase but I'm not about to pay that much to keep time (or to be spammed with people's heartbeats). For a computer company to establish itself in a long-invested market of professional mechanical time-keeping craftsmanship with a digital watch is laughable to me. The company made a computer with a synchronized digital clock that you can wear on a wrist, and to slap gold on it and call it $10K does not qualify their establishment in this market in my eyes.

[Charles Martin]

Just gonna leave this here for educational purposes:

http://amzn.to/1Mpirpd

[Spheric Harlot]

And those are beastly ugly.

Andrej, Apple is selling these to the watch market, not the technology market.

Well, aiming - we have yet to see if they'll sell. But I have a hunch that they will.

[mac_in_tosh]

The thing about the $10,000 Edition watch is that it's going to be obsolete in a few years.

[Spheric Harlot]

We don't know yet.

[just a poster]

At those prices, they couldn't possibly lose money.

[driven]

$10,000 for a really nice watch really isn't overpriced. (And this is likely one of the most accurate watches in the world) HOWEVER: Traditional watches typically last for generations. I'm not sure that would apply to an electronic device. So, this will be interesting to watch.