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The media reaction to yesterday’s announcements by the tech giant has centred around its cost and impending obsolescence. But we want to know what you think about the gadget’s design? At a conference in California yesterday, amid cultish cheers, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook revealed details about the brand’s latest money-spinner. We now know that the Apple Watch, first unveiled in September, will allow you to view handy bits of information such as the time, as well as receive texts and calls and track your health and fitness. Ranging in price from $349 for a basic model to $17,000 for an 18-carat gold version, the watch will come in two sizes – 38mm and 42mm – and have multiple options for casing and straps. There is unlimited potential for customising its uncompromisingly square face, with options ranging from a traditional clock to one featuring Mickey Mouse. While Apple emphasised the watch’s potential to improve your health by tracking your heartbeat and activity, and also its customisability, it is the price of the most expensive model that has attracted more attention – highlighting for many the device’s intrinsic extravagance. That may, in fact, be the point. With a range of interchangeable watchstraps available, Apple seems to be aiming to compete as much with fashion as with technology, brands – particularly with the limited run “Edition” series. Indeed, in an interview with the New Yorker last month, the company’s head of design Jonathan Ive said that, while the first incarnation of the watch took just six weeks to design, it took a year to settle on the interchangeable straps. “One of the biggest challenges was that we wouldn’t want to all be sitting here wearing the same thing,” he explained in a talk at the Design Museum in November. As Sam Jacob wrote in an article for Icon about wearable technology: “They are everyday objects rather than specialist tech devices. They begin to merge the digital world with that of fashion, clothes, jewellery, of hundreds of years of relationship between humans and their things.” But, while buying a Rolex can easily set you back tens of thousands of pounds, such watches last decades. With no mention of whether the system can be upgraded, the Apple Watch is likely to be obsolete within a year or two, regardless of how hardwearing its materials are. Such practical considerations have been widely discussed since yesterday’s announcements. But little has been said about the design of the watch. In response to one of the few questions about its appearance – about its rectangular shape, Ive told the New Yorker: “When a huge part of the function is lists, a circle doesn’t make any sense.” In the lead up to its launch on 24 April, we want to know what you think of the Apple Watch. Do you like its design? Based on early impressions, what would you change about it? Does wearing a smart watch appeal to you or do you share Sam Jacob’s concerns about initiating such an intimate relationship with technology? And, if you are thinking of buying one, what kind of apps would you like to see on the watch that would make it worth owning? Let us know using the comment box below and we will publish the best suggestions on our site. |
Words Debika Ray
Image: Apple |
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