Apple reveals watch prices and apps, unveils shiny gold MacBook

Make calls, read emails, control music, keep up with your workout. Apple CEO Tim Cook says you can do it all from your wrist with Apple Watch, which was further unveiled at a San Francisco showcase on Monday.

"It's the most personal device we have ever created. It’s not just with you, it's on you," Cook said onstage.

Apple will begin selling its new watch on April 24, the company said, rolling out its first new product in five years in a bid to extend its preeminence in mobile devices.

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The sport Apple Watch will start at $449 for the smaller, 38-mm model. The standard version of the watch will start at $699 and the high end "Edition" watch will be priced from $13,000.

The watch, which was unveiled last September, will track exercise, remind wearers of events with a tap on the wrist, and make calls through an electronically tethered phone, since the watch has a built in speaker and microphone. The battery will last 18 hours on an average day.

It connects to the iPhone 5 or later models to receive notifications about incoming mail, messages, calls and events on your calendar. It also includes a heart rate sensor and accelerometer for fitness tracking, along with Apple's virtual assistant Siri and the company's new mobile payment system in the U.S., Apple Pay. It also includes standard watch features like an alarm and stopwatch.

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Users with Apple Watches could also communicate with each other by sending sketches and the rhythm of their heartbeats.

The watch shifts the scope of Apple products from technology into fashion. Some in the fashion industry, however, are unsure how the new device will fare.

"I don't know that there are many companies other than Apple that can actually convince most of us that we need something that five minutes ago, we had no idea that we actually needed," said Noreen Flanagan, editor in chief of Elle Canada. "They have shown tremendous mastery at that over the years.

"I think, though, this is going to be a challenge for them to kind of crack that market. I'm very curious to see what happens," she said in an interview with CBC News.

Shiny, skinny, silent MacBook

Tech industry watchers are also eager to see if Apple's version will be the tipping point for the sluggish smartwatch market. There was similar skepticism when Apple released the iPad in 2010, yet the company has successfully sold millions and its popularity has shaken up the PC market.

The stakes are high for a company that just dislodged AT&T as one of the 30 stocks comprising the venerable Dow Jones industrial average. The watch is the first brand new device Apple has launched without co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.

Cook directed Apple's big event, also unveiling a shiny, skinny and silent MacBook weighing in at just 0.9 kilograms that the company says is the world's most energy efficient laptop.

Apple also showed off a new deal between Apple TV and HBO, touted growth in iPhone sales and Apple Pay adoption, and announced a set of tools called ResearchKit to help hospitals and research centres develop apps for patients.

It cut the price of Apple TV by $30 to $69 and is partnering with HBO to offer its stand-alone streaming service, HBO Go, on Apple devices in time for the Game of Thrones premiere on April 12. It will cost $14.99 US monthly.