The new Apple Watch has been confirmed to launch outside of the U.S. at the same time as the U.S. launch in April, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Cook confirmed to Apple employees at the Berlin flagship store last week that the Apple Watch will launch in Germany during the month April, but it wasn't clear if the wearable device would launch on the exact same day in Europe and the U.S. Meanwhile, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France are also expected to see the Apple Watch's release in April.
The anticipated smartwatch was also featured on the April cover of Chinese fashion magazine YOHO. The Apple Watch is being shown off by actor Archie Kao, who s best known in the U.S. for his appearances on TV shows like Chicago PD and CSI. This cover is the latest of a string of fashion magazine covers as Apple makes the rounds on Style, Vogue, and Hong Kong's East Touch magazine.
This new information, as well as the magazine cover campaign, is all leading up to March 9's press event called "Spring Forward." The San Francisco event will play off of Sunday's Daylight Savings time switch-over to discuss all things watch-like, including -- we hope! -- a definitive launch date for the Apple Watch. If you're not in the neighborhood next Monday, you can watch a livestream of the event by visiting www.apple.com/live at 10 a.m. PDT.
The Apple Watch was first announced on September 9, 2014 as a wearable device that will not only incorporate fitness tracking into an iOS platform, but it will also be considered a stylish accessory with a wide variety of interchangeable bands and cases.
There are three editions of the Apple Watch with two case sizes (38 mm and 42 mm) and a total availability in 34 different combinations. The watch will also include 512 MB RAM, 4 GB flash storage, a multi-touch retina display with sapphire crystal (strengthened Ion-X glass on the Apple Watch Sport edition), and Apple's own Watch OS software.
The Apple Watch will start at $349 and go up from there, depending on what type of band and case combination you purchase. The options include composite or ceramic for the back, Ion-X glass or sapphire crystal for the screen, cases in either lightweight 7000 series aluminum, stainless steel, or hardened 18-karat gold, and bands from plastic, leather, or stainless steel links.
A variety of colors are also available, including silver, space gray, space black, yellow gold, or rose gold for the cases, and white, black, blue, green, pink, stainless steel, space black, soft pink, brown, midnight blue, stone, light brown, or bright blue for the bands.
The smartwatch will also include an accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, and barometer, as well as NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n.
Although it hasn't been released yet, Time Magazine listed the Apple Watch as one of the 25 Best Inventions of 2014. Financial analysts estimate that the watch may enjoy sales in the 40-million range in the first year alone.
