NEW YORK — Last year right around this time, everyone wondered if or when Apple would finally unveil a long-rumored smart watch and what bearing it might have on the market for wearable computers.
The "if" went away in September when the company finally showcased early versions of Apple Watch.
As I anticipate the stories likely to dominate the personal tech scene in the New Year, the question of "when" in 2015 the Apple Watch clocks in remains a mystery. It's also unknown how high above the entry-level $350 price some premium versions of the watch might command.
I'll be mildly surprised if the availability date slips well past the first quarter of the year, but (forgive the pun) time will tell.
Aside from the timing, there are these key questions: Will Apple Watch be the catalyst to make smart watches specifically and wearables more generally go mainstream? Can Apple solve one of the major bugaboos afflicting most of the early timepieces already out there, notably the challenge of battery life?
I may be dead wrong, but I do expect the first batch of Apple Watches to generate the kind of buzz we so often see when a new Apple product arrives — with sales that will far exceed anything we've seen in the wearable category so far. But I'll also temper that prediction with this: version 1.0 of the Apple Watch will be just that, a version 1.0 product. In other words, it might be sexy, have enormous promise, but it also will be saddled with a few growing pains.
A 'WEARABLE' WORLD?
Either way, expect the barrage of new wearable devices to continue in 2015 from all the usual tech suspects, with a particular emphasis on products and services that cater to the health and fitness market.
Rival Google will push even harder to improve upon and expand the Android Wear ecosystem.
Google hasn't given up on Google Glass either, though I'm not sanguine that the company's high-tech spectacles will gain further headway with ordinary folks in 2015. Longer term, maybe.
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