Called Apple Watch and available in early 2015 starting at $349, the device includes an activity app designed to help motivate users to be more active, and a workout app that provides metrics during workout sessions. Billed as bringing together the capabilities of “an all-day fitness tracker and a highly advanced sports watch in one device,” Apple Watch uses an accelerometer, a built-in heart rate sensor, GPS and Wi-Fi from an iPhone to provide an overall picture of a person’s daily activity. (Photo via Apple.com)
The activity app measures three separate aspects of movement: calories burned, brisk activity and how often a user stands up during the course of a given day. The workout app allows users to set specific goals for popular session-based workouts, such as running and cycling. And, the companion fitness app on iPhone collects activity data to provide activity history in order to suggest personal foals, reward fitness milestones and motivate users.
“Apple Watch is the most personal device we’ve ever created,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple builds great products that enrich peoples’ lives and arguably we can take that to a whole new level with Apple Watch.”
At the same time, Cook said that Apple Watch “requires the iPhone because it’s been designed to seamlessly work together…This means that over 200 million people already can use Apple Watch.
However, Niharika Midha, medical device analyst at GlobalData, argues that the significant dependence of the health and fitness trackers on the iPhone’s Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities in comparison to other vendors is a drawback. For example, Midha said the Samsung Galaxy Gear S has a built-in GPS and can be used to tract activities without the phone.
