Ahead of its release on the 24th April there are already counterfeit Apple watches being sold in China and Hong Kong as well as paper facsimiles of it to be sent into the afterlife with departed love-ones, but this is not what triggered this weeks regular chat with Phil Whelan of Radio 3 Hong Kong.

Phil was keen to work through whether the watch would take off and whether we needed it.

This new watch, of which there are many competitors, will have 30 distinct design variations, across 2 sizes 38mm and 42 mm and in 4 price points,  HK$4,288, HK$5,088, HK$8,588 and the last the gold version HK$78,000.

Phil’s concern was that over the last few decades we have stopped wearing watches and that this new technology will mean new habits will have to be learned, but given the rise and rise of wearable devices and that this is still very early days in what will be a significant technology category, expected to be worth $11.6 billion in 2020, I’m confident we will soon get used to wearing watches, glasses, brooches and all sorts of connected devices.

My advice to the listeners is if you can’t live without it, get it, but unlike watches of old, this is not as one-off lifetime purchase. This technology is very new and the next version will be significantly evolved from the current, so perhaps buy a base or intermediate watch and as we learn to upgrade our watches every 12 months, be prepared to buy another one and then another one in the very near future.

Have a listen now (13 minutes)…