Apple Watch to Launch February 14; Gold Edition to Cost $4,000: Report

While Apple did not mention anything but a starting price of $349 (roughly Rs. 21,400) for its Apple Watch at its keynote event in September, a new report from a French website has detailed some information on the smartwatch's pricing.

The Apple Watch, according to the sources close to Apple's plans, will arrive with a starting price of $500 (roughly Rs. 30,700) for its stainless steel and glass variant - which will be called the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Sport, which will feature an aluminium and glass build, will start at $349 (roughly Rs. 21,400), while the Apple Watch Edition, which will feature an 18-karat gold build and is expected to bear sapphire glass, is said to be priced between $4,000 (roughly Rs. 2,45,600) and $5,000 (roughly Rs. 3,07,000).

The iGen.fr report (via MacRumors) interestingly mentioned that the Apple Watch would launch on Valentine's Day (February 14). This date however contradicts a report on Sunday that cited purported communication by Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores at Apple, to company employees, to state a Spring launch date, which could be any time from March to June.

The Cupertino firm has reportedly also started planning the retail strategy of its first smartwatch. In a recent all-hands retail employee meeting, Tim Cook reportedly said that staff will be trained to help customers try the Apple Watch along with different sizes and bands.

Cook, while announcing new iOS and Mac products in the company's event last month, also introduced the WatchKit software developer kit (SDK) for developers to build apps for the company's upcoming Apple Watch. The WatchKit SDK is set to ship this month.

With the WatchKit SDK's release in November, Apple wants to make sure that there are enough apps for the platform before it finally releases the Apple Watch.