6 Core Beliefs Behind the New 'Apple Watch'

Today, as Apple unveils its much-awaited Watch, BoF has the early scoop. Here, we explain the new wearable device, Apple’s strategy for turning the product into another blockbuster and its potential impact on the fashion and luxury industry.

CUPERTINO, United States — For more than three years, Jonathan Ive, the mastermind design guru behind iconic Apple consumer electronics products, from the iMac to the iPod to the iPad, has secretly been working on a wearable technology device — the Apple Watch — together with a team of 17 designers at Apple’s campus-like headquarters in California’s Silicon Valley.

Given the notorious secrecy that surrounds Apple’s new product launches and the company’s track record of transforming entire product categories, members of both the fashion and tech tribes have been eagerly waiting to see what Ive and his colleagues — including former fashion executives like Paul Deneve — have developed; and to decode Apple’s thinking behind what is its biggest new product launch since the game-changing iPad and the first for the company under the guidance of chief executive Tim Cook, who replaced Apple's visionary founder, Steve Jobs, after his death in 2011.

On Tuesday morning Pacific time, the Apple Watch was finally revealed in a live keynote presentation led by Cook and containing a video presentation by Ive. BoF goes inside the launch to explain the new wearable device and how Apple hopes to turn the product into another global blockbuster.

Interestingly, the Apple Watch is not a single monolithic device, but rather a set of modular options which offers consumers a greater degree of both aesthetic and functional personalisation than any Apple product in the past: two different screen sizes, several options for strap materials — including rubber, stainless steel and leather — and a range of six different metallic finishes, crafted from custom alloys, for the core watch casing and face, which is made with sapphire crystal, the strongest transparent material after diamond.

These options are grouped into three different collections. While the Apple Watch Sport, will arrive in stores in early 2015 and sell for $349, more luxurious options are in the pipeline, including some available in 18-karat gold. Apple Watch Edition, the most expensive collection, could sell for thousands of dollars, though Apple has not yet revealed its price or delivery date.

So why all the fuss about a new watch anyway?

While still in its infancy, the wearable technology market is widely thought to be the next major technology battleground and is expected to ramp up rapidly. ABI Research estimates that around 7 million smartwatches (only one type of wearable device) will ship by the end of 2014, up from 1 million in 2013. According to Forrester Research, Apple alone could sell 10 million units of its Watch next year. Others are even more bullish. Morgan Stanley estimates first-year sales in the range of 30 million to 60 million units. Meanwhile, the investment bank Cowen predicts the overall wearables market will reach $170 billion by 2020.

Given these numbers and the fact that, when it comes to wearables, consumer adoption will largely depend on the stylistic merits of these devices, it’s no wonder that the fashion industry has finally taken notice.

This fashion week is shaping up to be “the season of wearables.” In the last few weeks alone, Opening Ceremony has unveiled a luxury smart bracelet dubbed ‘MICA’ (My Intelligent Communication Accessory) developed in partnership with Intel; Tory Burch has launched a collaboration with FitBit; Intel has announced a second consumer brand partnership, this time with watch juggernaut Fossil; and, today, Samsung’s Gear S smartwatch made an appearance on the Diesel Black Gold runway.

If many of these collaborations seem to reflect superficial and short-term thinking, Ive and his team, on the other hand, think of Apple as an ideas company based on a foundational set of beliefs put in place by Steve Jobs, who had a knack for transforming emerging consumer electronics categories. Here are the six underlying beliefs behind the new Apple Watch, which form the foundations of the company’s strategy for igniting and dominating the rapidly emerging wearable technology market, just as the iPod did for music, the iPhone did for smartphones and the iPad has done for tablets.