Apple set March 9th for Watch event ahead of April sale

Apple has sent out invitations to an event on March 9th in San Francisco, where it will unveil details for the release of the Apple Watch.

Chief executive Tim Cook said last month that the smartwatch will ship in April. The device is the first new gadget line to debut under Cook since he took over the helm at Apple, as he seeks to push the tech giant into new market segments. Apple hasn't given much information about the gadget's battery life or how much models will cost, other than $349 for the basic version.

“Spring forward,” reads the invitation to the event, to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater at 10 am eastern time. The headline refers to the annual to daylight savings time, when Americans move their clocks and watches forward by one hour. This year, the time shift begins on March 8th, a day before Apple’s event.

The event’s focus will be the Apple Watch said a person with knowledge of the event. Optimism about Apple has been growing since Cook revealed the watch along with the larger-screened iPhones in September. The new phones helped fuel a record profit during the last three months of 2014.

Apple shares are trading near record highs, giving the company a market capitalization of about $756 billion on Thursday.

New Models

The Apple Watch, with a rectangular touch-screen face, includes sensors to detect pulse rates and other health-related features and must be paired with an iPhone to work properly. It will come in two sizes and three styles - classic, sports and gold editions.

“The creativity and the software innovation going on around Apple Watch is incredibly exciting,” Cook said when he announced the watch would begin shipping in April.

Morgan Stanley has projected Apple Watch will generate $8.1 billion in revenue in fiscal 2015, including $1.35 billion in the March quarter, while RBC Capital Markets said Apple could "conservatively" generate $6.5 billion in revenue from 20 million watch shipments.

- Bloomberg