The Apple Watch will launch in Australia on 24 April, and while it promises to advance the wearable category, brands are being urged to use the medium carefully.
The implications for marketers will undoutedly play out over the next few months and years as marketing departments get their hands on the tech and figure out the best way to market on a 42mm screen.
Already, marketers have questioned how to market on such a tiny screen, but the potential to send users push notifications within geo-fenced locations has marketers here excited.
Mobile and innovation director at Dentsu's newly-acquired creative agency Isobar, Erik Hallander, told AdNews however, that brands could be tempted to compete for space on the Apple Watch, and this would be a bad thing.
“I think what you're going to see in the next six to 12 months is brands getting it wrong, a lot,” Hallander said.
“The thing about the Apple Watch is that its best used as a push-notification space. You think about phone apps, and they're based off interaction.
“Users are not going to want interaction with their watch too much, so brands that take that mobile thinking and apply it to the watch are going to be getting it wrong.”
With a plethora of brands sure to test the waters with apps for smartwatches, there is the possibility that users could be flooded by notifications, and brands will be focused on how to stand out from the crowd.
“Brands will also really need to focus in on the value proposition they offer to consumers,” Hallander said.
“So as a brand, if you're pushing that out you need to make sure the value proposition is really there, or else your app is going to be deleted pretty quickly.”
The watch will be available in two different sizes, namely 38mm and 42mm, and be available in three different models – Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch, and Apple Watch Edition.
Prices range from$499 to $1629 but if you really want to splash out there's an 18-karat gold edition available for a lazy $14,000.
Apps announced for the Apple Watch include Instagram, Shazam, Twitter and WeChat, with a focus on health.
The Apple Watch will launch with an activity app, which will measure a user's daily activity using an accelerometer, a built-in heart sensor, GPS, and Wi-Fi from a user's iPhone.
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