The Apple Watch Round-Up

It's time.

In case it had passed you by, Apple is releasing the final details on its much-hyped Watch later today.

At 5pm, you'll be able to watch (excuse the pun) Tim Cook work a crowd of Apple devotees into a frenzy at the Spring Forward event right here. 

To ensure you're well-briefed for the inevitable week-long discussion of whether you'd buy a £300 wrist-botherer, we've assembled a run down of the latest rumours and facts circling Apple's new gadget. 

It's getting a Selfridges desk

To highlight the Apple Watch's position as a 'fashion' piece, Apple is going to sell it in some rather choice locations beyond their own glass-filled stores. We've had word that the Apple Watch will get its own snazzy desk in the luxury watch section of the London branch of Selfridges - sharing a floor space with the likes of diamond-encrusted Tag Heuers and Bvlgaris. It's a move that points towards...

This is a "proper" luxury watch

While it might lack the intricate movements of a Swiss creation, Apple is keen to court the luxury timepiece crowd with a range of metallic finishes. As well as the Watch (stainless steel, various leather and metal bands), Sport (sporty fluoroelastomer band in five colours, hardened display) and the six designs of the 18-carat gold Edition version of the watch, the Wall Street Journal has word that a platinum version of the timepiece will also be available (at a wallet-scaring price, of course). Luxury modifiers Brikk have already announced a $75,000 version of their own.

The battery isn't all that

Whatever the final number is for the "estimated" battery life, the Apple Watch isn't going to be competing with your old Casio in the energy race. Tim Cook has said the Watch will last a day before it needs recharging, but some sources (including the Apple obsessives at 9to5Mac) are suggesting that the battery will only last five hours with significant application use. That points toward Apple positioning the Watch as a device that plays second fiddle to your iPhone or iPad, lest you kill your battery before you clock off work. They might try and tell you it's because they've made a product you can't stop using, but it's really because modern battery technology is seriously lacking. 

It's not the Watch Apple wanted to release

According to an insider leak to the Wall Street Journal, the Watch that Tim Cook will be showing off (again) today doesn't do everything the company initially wanted it to do. However, due to a lack of technology and - ironically - time, features such as measuring blood pressure and other fitness ideas won't make it onto this first model. If you don't want to spend big on this untested device, best wait for the Apple Watch S or Apple Watch Air to arrive in around 12 months with even more bells and whistles. 

You're going to be able to pay for things with it

Just a rumour, but reports suggest that thanks to Apple Pay, you're going to be able to spend money even more easily with the Apple Watch, scuffing it up against contactless payment systems that are now becoming a regular fixture of high street shops. 

It's all about Glances

Apps are so 2013. For the Watch, it's all about Glances - little windows that let you gain key information like your heart rate at the flick of an eyelid. That said, there could be as many as 100,000 apps ready for the Watch at launch, from the niche (like checking the charge level on your Tesla car) to the silly (like resurrecting the Tamagotchi). Using it with your existing iPhone will also be a synch thanks to the Companion app, from which you'll be able to organise notifications like emails, messages and calls. 

There won't be enough of them

Just about every market analyser out there has voiced their thoughts on how many million Watches Apple will make and sell in 2015, from six million to 20 million. Various experts with titles like "procurement management" and "supply chain specialist" have all cast similar warnings: thanks to the use of luxury materials and specialist components, Apple's supply chain may well struggle to cope with early demand. So expect huge queues come the April launch, followed by angry backlash.