The Apple Watch isn't even for sale, yet it's already won a major award.
The upcoming smartwatch has been lauded by winning gold in the 2015 iF Design Awards. Given out every year since 1954 by the Germany-based iF International Forum Design, the awards -- gold in particular -- are considered prestigious honors in the design community as judges must pick the top products from among 2,000 entries and a variety of categories.
The Apple Watch won't be available to consumers until April, but Apple is expected to reveal more details about the device, including a specific launch date, at an event scheduled for Monday. Spearheaded by Apple designer Jony Ive, the watch will come in three varieties with a range of bands available. The entry-level Sport model will start at $349, while the top-of-the-line Apple Watch Edition could sell for $4,999 and higher, according to predictions from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
The Apple Watch will be part smartwatch and part fitness and activity tracker, a combination the company is counting on to bring in buyers. But by offering the watch in a luxury edition, Apple is also presenting it as a piece of fine jewelry to further distinguish it from rival products.
It will be entering a crowded field of wearables clamoring for a place on consumers' wrists, the latest round of which were unveiled at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week. Among the crop of smartwatches were the Android-powered Huawei Watch, which brings a classic round watch shape to a set of devices that's been dominated by boxier designs, and the Pebble Time Steel, whose sensor-based bands and metallic construction up the ante on the plastic Pebble Time announced just a week earlier.
Other companies already in the smartphone fray include Samsung, Microsoft, Motorola, Sony and LG.
One advantage that Android-based smartwatches could have over the Apple Watch is that by and large they are less expensive. But to date, smartwatches have yet to really capture consumers' enthusiasm or much in the way of their dollars. Some limiting factors -- they often rely heavily on being a complement to a mobile phone, and typically have much shorter battery life than traditional watches.
