Apple Watch

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Apple Watch: what the iDB team is buying

Oliver Haslam ∙ March 16, 2015

It's been a long time coming, but now that we know just what the Apple Watch will cost, how much we will need to pay for additional bands and when pre-orders will be open, the only thing left to do is choose which Apple Watch will order.

At least, that's how it seems to us here at iDB. After months of waiting for concrete information on availability and pricing, the decision on whether to actually pick up an Apple Watch was one that didn't need much thinking about. The argument over whether to plump for the Apple Watch Edition was taken out of our hands by its price, too, so really all it comes down to is whether the Apple Watch or Apple Watch Sport is the watch for you.

The iDB team got to discussing this very subject recently and we thought that discussion might be an interesting one to share with everyone. After all, if you guys are struggling to make a decision as much as we were, then every little bit of help is no doubt appreciated.

So, with that elongated preamble of the way, let's see what the iDB team will be ordering come April 10th.

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You’ll be able to try on Apple Watch in Apple Stores without appointment

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 16, 2015

You'll be able to spend hands-on time with an Apple Watch at Apple's retail stores without making a purchase. Although some sources previously mentioned trying on Watches by appointment, 9to5Mac has learned that try on appointments won’t be necessary after all.

Apple will start taking pre-orders for the Watch on April 10, ahead of its April 24 launch. April 10 is also when the Watch will arrive for “preview” in retail stores. Apple Retail will begin training employees on selling the device at the end of March.

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Analyst: Why Apple created the $10,000 Apple Watch Edition

Jake Smith ∙ March 15, 2015

The announcement that the Apple Watch Edition will start at $10,000 and be priced all the way to $17,000 when it begins shipping April 24 perplexed many. Apple is a consumer electronics company. Why is it trying to jump into the luxury space?

Here's your answer. On Thursday, Andreessen Horowitz analyst Benedict Evans penned a blog post on why Apple is bothering to sell the Apple Watch Edition. It's full of some brilliant analysis of the new, luxury product, but it boils down to something simple - it's a marketing tool for Apple.

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Amazon working on Apple Watch shopping app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2015

Online retail giant Amazon is working on an official Apple Watch app that will permit its users to purchase goods on Amazon.com right from their wrist, TechCrunch reported Friday.

“The company does have an Apple Watch version of its mobile shopping app in the works, we understand,” reads the report.

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A closer look at Apple Watch’s Activity companion app for iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

After sitting through Apple's “Spring Forward” media presentation from start to finish, I couldn't help but notice a slide tim Cook briefly put up, depicting an iOS version of the Apple Watch's Activity app. I immediately took to Twitter, wondering when users could expect to see the software on their iPhones.

Last evening, developer Hamza Sood tweeted out a series of screenshots of the Activity app from iOS 8.2, released for public consumption on Monday.

The app is hidden and would only appear on a user's Home screen once an Apple Watch has been connected and paired with an iPhone using the Apple Watch iOS app (which  by the way cannot be deleted from the device).

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The best Apple Watch features Apple hasn’t told you about

Sébastien Page ∙ March 12, 2015

The purpose of Apple Watch is something that has been greatly discussed ever since the company first unveiled it last September, and as the release date nears, it seems to be the topic of even more arguments.

Admittedly, Apple isn’t doing a great job at highlighting the true selling points of Apple Watch. If you go to the Watch mini site on Apple.com, the first thing Apple tells you about it is that it is an incredibly precise timepiece. I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall ever wondering if the time I was looking at (be it on my iPhone, my Mac, or my microwave clock) was indeed precise, and I imagine most people feel the same.

To me, there are three features Apple should have made essential parts of its marketing materials. The company either didn’t feel the need to because they aren’t actual features per se, or maybe Apple didn’t realize their importance, something that can only be measured as you use the device day in day out for an extended period of time.

I will not pretend I know better than Apple when it comes to communicating. That’s clearly not the case, but as someone who’s been using a Pebble every day for over a year, I believe I have a very good sense of what makes a smartwatch so indispensable.

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Apple Watch manufacturer experiencing extremely low defect-free rate

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, the principal Apple Watch manufacturer, is experiencing what could only be described as extremely low defect-free rate of less than thirty percent as it continues to struggle with low yield issues.

And in order to help solve purported manufacturing issues, Quanta has enlisted help of three-thousand workers from Foxconn to improve the yield rate, according to G for Games Thursday citing Taiwanese media.

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Apple pulling Jawbone and Nike fitness devices from retail stores

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple is halting sales of competing fitness bands, as it prepares to launch the Apple Watch next month. As noted by Recode earlier today, several Apple stores have begun pulling Jawbone and Nike devices from their shelves, and a quick search of the US web store returns similar results.

The Cupertino firm made a similar move in the fall of last year, pulling FitBit products from its shelves. This may be a bit less significant, though, given Jawbone's smaller marketshare and Nike's decision to focus its efforts on fitness software rather than produce anymore FuelBand hardware.

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Apple Watch: you can rent it before you buy it

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

If you find Apple Watch's $349 price tag a bit on the expensive side, you may be happy to know that you'll be able to take it for a test drive for far less than that. Gadget rental startup Lumoid says that it plans to rent out the Watch for $45/week, once it launches next month.

Lumoid, which already rents out FitBits and similar devices, says the $45 will get you the Sports version of Apple Watch, and $25 of that will go towards the purchase price if you decide to buy it. The firm will also offer the Steel version for $55, but will not carry Edition models.

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