“The Apple Watch has been a sleeper hit for the company,” Farhad Manjoo writes for The New York Times. “Though early reviews were mixed, Apple has steadily improved the device, and now the smartwatch is the best-selling watch in the world, according to Apple.”
“Today, Apple unveiled the third version of the device. It looks identical to the old version, but the new one carries a much-requested feature for the first time: It will come with a cellular chip, meaning it can access the internet even if it isn’t connected to your phone. Among other capabilities, the cellular version can make calls, send texts and stream music when you’re on the go,” Manjoo writes. “‘Now you have the freedom to go anywhere with just the Apple Watch,’ said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.”
“In a demo, an Apple employee made a live call [via her Apple Watch Series 3] to the keynote address from a paddle board in the middle of a lake,” Manjoo writes. “The new cellular version sells for $399; a WiFi-only version of the new version sells for $329, and you can still buy the older version for $249. The new watch will begin shipping on Sept. 22.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch. The world’s best-selling watch.
SEE ALSO:
New Apple Watch Series 3 delivers built-in cellular with powerful new health and fitness enhancements – September 12, 2017
It’s about time you don’t have to have a Apple Watch tethered to an iPhone. Way to go Apple! Now I will buy one! 🙂 🙂
Finally!
The 3 star rate on a comment before Apple the watch came out.
You still need an iPhone to have an Apple Watch. Greedy Tim wouldn’t have it any other way.
That’s because the Watch doesn’t require its own cell number, it’ll use the one you already have. If you had no cell phone, the Watch would need its own number and then the carriers would want to charge you the going rate for a phone on their systems, $60 a month, or whatever the cheapest smartphone plan costs. This way, the Watch only requires a device fee of $10 a month, just like any other device you add to your existing plan.
Doesn’t require vs can’t have.
With cellular inside, the watch + headphones INSTEAD of the phone would be an appealing idea.
Given their recent track record, Apple will allow that only after 3 competitors have done so and proven the market.
I suppose, but how many people would want a smartwatch and NOT already have a smartphone?
And, is it appealing if Verizon charges you the same $60 monthly regardless of whether you have a phone or watch? I mean it would be great if you could get rid of your phone plan and just pay $10 for the smartwatch, but that’s not what would happen.
See my answer that WordPress misposted at the end of the comment chain.
Come on out all you cowards that called it a flop!
Kind of retarded because people keep their phones with them anyway. And if you are going for a swim or a run, you probably don’t want to have a phone call anyway.
Really?
People keep their phones with them anyway going for a swim or a run? It wouldn’t have anything to do with their old Apple Watch (1) requiring it?
Any you can’t envision any scenario of a person needing to make or receive a phone call while running or swimming? Really? Try harder.
You don’t swim or run, and you have no life or friends, that’s apparent.
Did you say the same when Series 2 came out with GPS?
“retarded”, indeed…slide thread, I took the bait
No- while going for a swim or a run you probably don’t want to be blathering on the phone like the moron you clearly are. On pretty much every other scenario, you have your phone on you anyway, so having LTE is of questionable benefit, at best- which is what the reviews are already saying. Cue the silly fan boi again.
So, another fail for Apple, right Marlo? Too bad they didn’t consult with you to know what people really need and want. You’re really awesome.
Actually, I can see using the Watch and leaving my phone behind plenty of times. What’s the big deal? I don’t really like lugging my phone around to a lot of places, like concerts, meeting friends at restaurants, going on walks or hikes, etc. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. I really _don’t_ like bringing my phone along with me to a lot of places…
If I can get around without my phone and still make calls and send messages etc I would.
This is the future.
The phone will be dead and a wearable will be the phone of the future.
This is the one time I wish Apple applied the relentless quest to be thinner. I still have Gen 1 and works fine for casual wear and workouts… stoked about the new phone but im sitting this one out.
If Apple could have made it thinner they would have.
Did you actually listen to the keynote?
There was a whole section about how much they had to cram into teh watch to get cellular in there!
Jesus – watch the keynote before psoting comments!!
But can I hotspot the watch to a wifi/bluetooth device…?
That defeats the purpose then doesn’t it. Might as well take your phone as it is already connected to it.
A dramatic improvement in practicality and application over the previous watch, especially in health monitoring. Pretty neat, I thought.
Ok so now I need Money. Again! I should just open up a Direct Deposit oh my Paycheck to Apple Banks LOL
hey, was gonna ask you to loan me $1149… 🙂
Get if from your Trump tax cut and add it to the national debt, botty.
I will be ordering an LTE Watch to replace my V1 model, but keeping my iPhone 7 and current Apple TV.
The iPhone 10 and 8 do not seem that big of a deal.
Can we have a real Mac Pro now? And how about updating the iPad mini, iPod Touch and Mac mini?
What “innovations” from Apple! A product coming out “next year” that has been around for years- like Qi charging!
Oh, and if you want to fast charge your iPhone- (already been on Android for years), you’ll have to pay over $70 more dollars because they don’t include a power supply for fast charge or a USB-C to Lightning cable! Way to go Cookie! Apple is now a total joke.
Not only that, but you can’t use Ford parts on a Cadillac or Mac software under Windows. Even with an LTE chip to provide more independence, an Apple Watch is still an Apple product that forms part of the Apple ecosystem. You can’t expect them to devote valuable development resources to allowing the use of Apple Watch as an Android accessory. They can sell all the Watches they can make without going there.
Innovation isn’t necessarily doing it first…it’s doing it right. So, how’s that Samsung facial recognition “innovation” that can be fooled by a photograph? And fast charging on Android? Yeah, nothing like phones catching on fire or the charger frying the phone innards. Back under the bridge with you.
Android sucks. They have so many differ phones some can be upgraded some not. All of them have differ t capiblities and just because I use one android phone doesn’t mean I can jump to any other and use it. As they each install their own GUI over the android OS.
If android is so great why do they always do BOGO ? Why do other then Samsung none turn much of a profit? That and android steals your info.
Apple is not perfect but I’ll take it over droid anyway.
Did you notice the new chip is 70% faster than the previous chip ? I guess this does not count as innovation in your book …because you can’t see it ? Get a life. What have you ever don to make the world a better place?
I don’t get this concept – because it has LTE you no longer need an Apple Watch…
A. How does one set up the Apple Watch without an iPhone and the Apple Watch App?
B. How does one install Apps on an Apple Watch without an iPhone and the Apple Watch App?
C. How does an Apple Watch gets set up on a Carrier without an iPhone Apple Watch App?
Am I missing something? But without Apple making an Android Apple Watch App, or Windows Apple Watch App, I don’t think Apple watch is able to truly work without an iPhone…
I believe you can do it from iTunes maybe. The idea you don’t have to take your iPhone with you all the time.
You still need the phone to do all that. Once it is setup, then you can use LTE without the phone being connected to the watch. It isn’t that hard of a concept to grasp, really.
Personally, the amount of times when I want only my watch with me is very limited and I’m certainly not going to pay x per month extra to get my phone package to extend to work on it. It’s nice but not something that’s going to get me to upgrade my series 2. All the software improvements are great though.
What’s with the red on the crown, I think it throws off the look of the watch.