Possibly the most highly anticipated announcement from its special event today, Apple announced that customers will be able to purchase the newly announced Apple Watch starting “early next year” in 2015. The Apple Watch will be available in various configurations differing from collection, size, and band. Price wise the wearable will start at $349 and go up. Compatibility for the Apple Watch and iPhone, which it requires, works with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Compatibility goes back to support the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5s as well.
The announcement-to-availability gap is reminiscent of both the original iPhone and iPad introductions in 2007 and 2010, respectively. As I previously wrote when we first learned that the Apple wearable would likely be announced today and available in early 2015:
“Specifically, the iPhone was announced January 9, 2007 and went on sale June 29, 2007. The iPad was presented publicly on stage January 27, 2010 followed by a public release April 3, 2010 for WiFi models and April 30, 2010 for cellular models.”
In the meantime, Apple announced its new iPhone models will be available starting next Friday for $199 and up.
