Apple launches `most personal device:" Apple Watch
Los Angeles (dpa) - Apple launched its first new product line since the iPad Monday, entering the emerging wearables market with its Apple Watch - and in the process, underscoring the company's transition from computer maker to luxury brand.
The Apple Watch is in essence a tiny computer that interfaces with an iPhone while strapped to the wrist. But functionality shared top billing with fashion at Apple's launch event at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts.
The watch that Apple chief executive Tim Cook called the "most advanced timepiece ever" starts at 349 dollars for a basic aluminium model and ranges unapologetically up to 17,000 for a solid 18k rose gold version.
It's billed as a fashion accessory as much as a smartwatch, infinitely customizable with a variety of cases, bands, face designs and features.
Its launch was complete with its own supermodel spokesperson, Christy Turlington Burns, who was conspicuous as theonly woman on stage.
But the Apple Watch is, in fact, more than just a pretty face - or array of faces. Tethered to the iPhone with Bluetooth or WiFi, it cando many of the things an iPhone can do: send and receive messages and calls; display app and social media notifications; surf the web and take dictation through Siri, Apple's voice-controlled virtual assistant.
It can store music like an iPod, and credit card information forApple's cashless payment system Apple Pay.
The Apple Watch's battery is built to last 18 hours, Cook said, longer than the iPhone but still requiring a recharge every day.
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