Technology giant Apple unveiled the Apple Watch this week, its first venture into wearable technology. Hailed by the firm as "the most advanced timepiece ever created", the gadget ranges in price from $349 to $17,000.
The bottom line, added Farhad Manjoo in The New York Times, is that "just about anything you can do with your [iPhone], you can do faster with your watch. Whether you're booking a lift with Uber or answering a text, you can "interact with the digital world at a glance, in a less outwardly antisocial way than you do now with your phone".
But the snag, said The Economist, is that the watch only works in conjunction with an iPhone. "This is not unlike selling someone a wristwatch that requires a pocket watch to work." Users will just be adding another device to their "growing menageries" rather than replacing one. And will people really want to shell outso much money for something that barely does any more than their iPhone?
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Apple's first product since Steve Jobs's death seems "unlikely to be remembered as a stellar success". However, as batteries become more efficient and prices fall, the market for wearable technology is set to grow. As the world's biggest technology company, with $200bn in sales over the past year, "Apple has time on its side".
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