{"id":477727,"date":"2025-04-24T06:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T13:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/?p=477727"},"modified":"2025-04-24T08:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T15:45:53","slug":"original-apple-watch-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/apple-history\/original-apple-watch-launch","title":{"rendered":"Today in Apple history: It’s time for Apple Watch 10th anniversary!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"April April 24, 2015: <\/strong>The original Apple Watch launch means consumers, who endured a seven-month wait after the device’s unveiling at a keynote the previous September, can finally strap an Apple wearable onto their wrists.<\/p>\n

Apple CEO Tim Cook<\/a> describes the smartwatch as the “next chapter in Apple history.”\u00a0 Behind the scenes, however, the first Apple Watch launch is a moment long in the making.<\/p>\n

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The original Apple Watch launch<\/h2>\n

“Apple Watch begins a new chapter<\/a> in the way we relate to technology and we think our customers are going to love it,\u201d said Cook in a March 2015 press release setting the April 24 launch date for the first Apple Watch. “We can\u2019t wait for people to start wearing Apple Watch to easily access information that matters, to interact with the world, and to live a better day by being more aware of their daily activity than ever before.”<\/p>\n

Repeatedly described as Apple’s “most personal device yet,” the new wearable put several innovations on wearers’ wrists — and Apple was quick to tout its hardware savvy.<\/p>\n

Digital Crown, Taptic Engine and other hardware innovations<\/h3>\n

The Apple Watch’s Digital Crown<\/a> — a small knob on the smartwatch’s side — provided an “innovative way to scroll, zoom and navigate fluidly without obstructing the display,” the company said. And an “all-new Taptic Engine<\/a> discreetly delivers a gentle tap on your wrist whenever you receive a notification or message.”<\/p>\n

The very first Apple Watch<\/a> came in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm, and in three separate models: the aluminum Apple Watch Sport (with prices starting at $349), the stainless steel Apple Watch (starting at $549) and the ultra-pricey, 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition (starting at a mind-blowing $10,000<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Interchangeable watch bands and watch faces gave Apple Watch owners multiple ways to make the device their own.<\/p>\n

Similar to the way Apple co-founder Steve Jobs<\/a> described the iPhone as a device that did three things<\/a>, the company boiled down Apple Watch functionality into three distinct categories. The watch served as “incredibly accurate timepiece, an intimate and immediate communication device and a groundbreaking health and fitness companion,” Apple said in a press release announcing the Apple Watch launch date.<\/p>\n

A post-Steve Jobs device<\/h3>\n

Given that Steve Jobs died in October 2011<\/a> and the Apple Watch came out in 2015, it wasn’t the first post-Jobs Apple device by any stretch of the imagination. It was, however, the first major new product line to launch in the post-Jobs era.<\/p>\n

In this way, Apple Watch was something like the Newton MessagePad<\/a>, the device shepherded through production by Apple CEO John Sculley<\/a> in\u00a0the 1990s. (Jobs left Apple in 1985 after a failed boardroom coup<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Just as the Newton reflected the tech industry’s first tentative steps toward embracing mobile computing in the 1990s, the Apple Watch signaled the arrival of wearables.<\/p>\n

“There was a sense that technology was going to move onto the body<\/a>,\u201d Alan Dye, the man in charge of Apple\u2019s human interface group, told Wired<\/em>. \u201cWe felt like the natural place, the place that had historical relevance and significance, was the wrist.”<\/p>\n

Did Steve Jobs know about Apple Watch?<\/h3>\n

There’s a bit of confusion as to whether Jobs was involved in the early stages of the Apple Watch<\/a>‘s development. The aforementioned Wired<\/em> article claims that Apple design chief Jony Ive<\/a> only thought about an Apple-branded watch after Jobs’ death. However, Tim Bajarin — an Apple analyst\u00a0who, unlike many, actually knew Jobs for more than three decades — said, \u201cSteve was aware of the Watch<\/a>” and “didn\u2019t nix it as a product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conceptualization of the Apple Watch took place around the time that Apple engineers were busy working on iOS 7, a major overhaul that eliminated skeuomorphism<\/a> from the iPhone’s user interface. After that, Apple’s smartwatch began to develop as a product. Apple recruited various smart-sensor experts<\/a> to create a device that would offer something fundamentally different from the iPhone.<\/p>\n

The original Apple Watch launch also marked an attempt by Apple to become more of a luxury brand. Going back to the company’s earliest days, Cupertino drew parallels between its computers and aspirational goods like high-end cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, decisions like making a $17,000 Apple Watch Edition<\/a> and showing off the device at Paris Fashion Week<\/a> marked a strategy shift that embraced high-end fashion in a way Apple hadn’t overtly done before.<\/p>\n

Original Apple Watch launch is the start of something big<\/h3>\n