Home Apple Bets Big On Its Smartwatch, Though Killer Apps May Be Missing In Action

Apple Bets Big On Its Smartwatch, Though Killer Apps May Be Missing In Action

The Apple Watch arriving in April may have lost some features along the way. (Image: Apple)

Unsurprisingly, Apple appears to have big plans for its new Apple Watch. Unfortunately, it may have left some of the smartwatch’s most compelling features on the cutting-room floor.

See also: The Apple Watch Is Coming In April

Apple has placed an order for more than 5 million Apple Watch units with its Asian suppliers, according to sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal. The order covers the first three months from April, when the wearable goes on sale, and would dwarf the number of Android Wear smartwatches that LG, Motorola, Asus, Samsung and Sony managed to sell in 2014.

According to Canalys, 720,000 Android Wear smartwatches were sold in 2014; Apple looks to be aiming to sell more than five times that number in a single quarter, and with record-breaking iPhone sales under its belt the company will be confident of meeting its target.

About half of the initial 5-6 million order is made up of the entry level $349 Apple Watch Sport model, the WSJ says, with a third consisting of the mid-tier Apple Watch, and the remainder the high-end Apple Watch Edition (with pricing to be confirmed on both these models).

More Wealth, Less Health

But many of the Apple Watch’s more advanced health-related features have been cut during the development process. The wearable is able to measure body movement, steps and heart rate, but the WSJ’s sources suggest that Apple had grander plans that had to be scaled down for the first generation model.

Some of these features were too complex to implement, the newspaper reports, while others might have snared Apple in a tangle of regulatory issues it was keen to avoid. Blood pressure and stress tracking are mentioned, for example, are among the features which may still make it into the Apple Watch in future editions of the device.

The report indicates that some of the watch’s unique features, like heartbeat messaging and interactive communications, were added to fill the gap left by the functions that got cut. Apple has declined to comment on the speculation in advance of the official release in April.

Photo courtesy of Apple

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