Apple Watch Will Compete For Space On Runners’ Wrists

New smartwatch could revolutionize your workouts.

A little over a month after Timex announced their One GPS+ Watch at the annual Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, Apple unveiled their much anticipated smartwatch, the Apple Watch, at a press event on Tuesday morning in Cupertino, Calif.

In the presentation, CEO Tim Cook made it clear that health and fitness are two areas that are very important to Apple. While showing off the features of the new watch, Cook spent a lot of time explaining how Apple’s new device can benefit everyone from couch potatoes who are looking to include a little more physical activity in their daily routines to serious athletes who are focused on improving their performance.

“Because you wear it, we invented new intimate ways to connect and communicate directly from your wrist and it works seamlessly with iPhone,” Cook said. “And it’s also a comprehensive health and fitness device.”

Designed to sync with the iPhone (versions 5 and above), the Apple Watch comes in 1.5-inch and 1.65-inch versions, with multiple color and style options including a sport-style wristband for athletes. The Sport version has a custom-designed anodized aluminum case that’s 60 percent stronger than standard alloy and a display that’s protected by strengthened ion-X glass. And, it’s still lightweight and comfortable to wear during activity, according to Apple Senior Vice President of Design, Johnny Ive, who narrated a walkthrough video of the new device during the presentation.

RELATED: Timex One GPS+ Watch

In addition to having email, messages, mapping, photos and other notifications sent right to your wrist, the Apple Watch includes software that will track your activity throughout the day (they’re calling it the “Activity” app) and also takes advantage of the GPS technology in the iPhone to give mores serious athletes real-time data about pace, distance and heart rate (called the “Workout” app) for various types of workouts, such as running or cycling. The watch will also work with third party fitness and tracking apps such as Strava, MapMyRun, RunKeeper and Nike+, and allows you to set various activity and workout-related goals, while also providing the platform to record, store and analyze your data.

The Apple Watch will be available at a still-do-be-determined date in 2015 and will retail starting at $349.