It’s Official – The Apple Watch Is Coming This Spring

Apple has revealed more details about its first foray into the wearable technology market – the Apple Watch.

Consumers eager to get their hands on the Apple Watch have only a few months to wait before its release, according a leaked internal Apple report that puts the release date of the $349 (£216) device at mid-March 2015.

The details were allegedly included in a video message sent to employees by Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores, which was passed on to 9to5Mac.

She allegedly said that, “We’re going into the holidays, we’ll go into Chinese New Year, and then we’ve got a new watch launch coming in the spring.”

Final touches

This puts the release of the Apple Watch at mid-March at the earliest, with Chinese New Year falling on February 19 this year, and spring generally considered to begin on March 20.

The delay is thought to be due to issues concerning the Apple Watch’s battery life, which has not performed as well as expected in initial tests, only lasting about a day. Apple was also keen to react to negative public opinion following the news that the device would need to be charged every night following a full day’s usage, as revealed by CEO Tim Cook during its unveiling.

Whenever it arrives, sales of the Apple Watch are expected to be high, as Apple’s huge brand recognition draws in first-time wearable technology users. Analyst firm Juniper Research recently predicted that the release of the Apple Watch would help push the number of smartwatches worldwide sold over the next five years past the 100 million mark.

Last week, it was also revealed that Microsoft plans to release its first wearable device, the fitness-focused Microsoft Band, as it looks to gain a slice of the lucrative market.

According to recent YouGov research, 2.8m people in the UK currently own a wearable, with that figure predicted to rise to 6.1 million in a year’s time as the adoption rate rises from 6 percent to 13 percent.

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