Apple Watch, Apple Pay Unveiled

September 9, 2014

By Andrea Chang

At the Apple event underway in Cupertino, Calif., Chief Executive Tim Cook unveiled Apple Watch, “the most personal device we’ve ever created,” he said.

It’s Apple’s first venture into wearable tech. He says it acts as a health and fitness device and works with iPhone — but “what we didn’t do was take the iPhone and shrink the interface and strap it on your wrist.”

The dial on the side is the “digital crown” for input and navigation.

Earlier, executives introduced the company’s version of a mobile wallet — Apple Pay.

“We’ve created an entirely new payment process, and we call it Apple Pay,” Cook said.

Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue described the basics of the payment method, calling it “fast, secure and private.” American Express, MasterCard and Visa are on board, he said. Apple Pay will work at businesses including Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Staples, McDonald’s, Panera, Walgreens, Nike, Toys R Us, Subway, Whole Foods and Disneyland — and for online payments at Target and Apple Stores, according to Apple.

Among other major announcements were two versions of the iPhone 6 — the smaller one has a 4.7-inch screen and is 6.9 millimeters (about 0.25 inches) thick; the 5.5-inch version is 7.1 millimeters (also about 0.25 inches) thick. Senior Vice President Phil Schiller said the battery would be equal to or better than the iPhone 5s.