Apple Launches iPhone6, iPhone6 Plus, iWatch

Apple’s Tim Cook introduced two new iPhones today, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The company also launched Apple Pay, a new one-touch payments system built into the new phones, and the long-anticipated Apple Watch. The two phones have 4.7 inch, and 5.5 inch screens,and 6.9, and 7.1 millimeters thick, respectively. Both have substantially longer battery life than previous iterations. In an expansion, the two phones will support 200 LTE carriers worldwide. Prices start at $199 for iPhone 6, and $299 for the iPhone 6 Plus.

The phones are available September 19 in the U.S. More than a dozen retailers, including Whole Foods, McDonalds, and Disney, will immediately be able to use Apple Pay. It will be downloadable to all new iPhones next month. Apple also took the wraps off the Apple Watch — the company’s first new product in four years. Although not called the iWatch, the device is the first new product from Apple since the iPad was introduced in 2010, and marks the first new category for Apple since Tim Cook took over from Steve Jobs as CEO of the company three years ago.

The device is the company’s first significant foray into the growing wearable tech market, which Samsung recently entered with its Gear smartwatch. Motorola also has a smartphone rolling into retailers this fall. Cook called it “the next chapter in Apple’s story. We’ve been working incredibly hard for a long time on an entirely new product, and we believe this product will redefine what people expect from this category.” Introduction of the watch was met with a standing ovation inside the Flint Performing Arts Center in Cupertino, Calif., where Apple is headquartered. For Cook, the Apple Watch represents one of the “amazing” new products he promised analysts and the Apple faithful more than a year ago.