Well Godot never came, but after literally two years of non-stop speculation, Apple finally announced the arrival of its Apple Watch smartwatch.

The entire smartwatch industry has been anticipating this day, and the thinking has been that Apple’s entry into the smartwatch market would have a transformative effect, shining a brighter light on wearables, and giving competitors popular new features to eventually adopt and adapt as their very own.

We think this may turn out to be true. The Apple Watch is an impressive product.

The styling of the Apple Watch is not as ground-breaking as some anticipated, but it still has the quality look and feel we’ve come to expect from Apple. It comes in three distinct styles, and as far as we know, it is the first smartwatch to come in two different sizes, 38mm and 42mm. The Apple Watch has also gone further than any other smartwatch as to the style and design of the watchstraps.

Then there are several notable innovations in the operation of the Apple Watch. The most significant is the Digital Crown, a small rotating knob on the side of the watch that allows users to scroll down through menus, zoom in on photos, change settings, access Siri, all without obstructing the display, plus it also acts as a home button.

The Apple Watch is also the first smartwatch that we know of to boast a slightly curved scratch-resistant sapphire touch screen. The curve beautifully supports Apple’s “Force Touch” technology which senses the  difference between a tap and a press, helping solve a lot of navigation problems that such small smartwatch screens present.

Other innovations include the built-in mobile payment application called Apple Pay, which will let you pay for your retail transactions, and Passbook, which will act as your boarding pass for a plane.

The Apple Watch includes many other functions and apps that have proven popular on other smartwatches up to this point. It has the full array of health, fitness and activity functions. It has a built-in speaker and a series of vibrating alerts and notifications. It comes with 11 different watchfaces, including a wild Astronomy face with an interactive 3D real-time model of the solar system.

The Smart Replies function lets you respond quickly to messages through various symbols, and with Handoff, you can start a message on your watch and continue where you left off on your iPhone. Swipe up from the watch face for Glances, that can pull up any info that you set as a priority.

Pressing the side button brings up Friends, so you can view and contact your favorite people quickly. Digital Touch allows you, with a tap, to send a sketch, an audio message through Walkie Talkie or even your own heartbeat (how’s it look, Doc?). Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS — it’s all included.

The Apple Watch features a wireless charging function, although details are non-existent about how long the battery charge lasts. This is a serious omission, because Apple portable devices have long been known to be a little weak in the battery charge department, and length of charge is even more important when it comes to the smartwatch. In fact, battery charge may end up being the achilles heel of this device.

In any case, the Apple Watch will hit store shelves in early 2015, and will retail starting at $349. That is a big price in the smartwatch world, but there’s a lot of value there.

Tomorrow we will look at some of the reaction to this massive shakeup in the smartwatch market.