Kenneth Cole aims at cash strapped millennials with smartwatch

With a starting price of $349, cash strapped millennials may have a tough time making room in their budget for an Apple Watch.

That’s where Kenneth Cole hopes to swoop in with its entry in the smartwatch market: the Kenneth Cole Connect.

With a price point aimed directly at millennials ($135), Kenneth Cole hopes its smartwatch will sync with the young, fashionable and tech-savvy crowds of today.

The low price, however, is a mere appetizer to the functions that make the watch ”smart.”

“It’s bluetooth-enabled and has several different alerts: incoming and missed calls, incoming texts (for Android), email alerts and event notifications,” said Clare Foley, the global brand manager for Kenneth Cole watches at Geneva Watch Group. “The watch also notifies you when you leave your phone. So, say for instance you’re having dinner, and you forget your phone on the table – your watch would notify you when you’re leaving it.”

Foley emphasized that one of the goals of the watch was to bring smart technologies to fashion-forward millennials and to keep them a little more engaged with the real world.

“I know on other smart watches, and on Apple Watch you can place a call or text from your watch,” Foley conceded. “This watch is really solely about alerts and remaining socially discreet – so you can receive alerts while remaining outgoing to the outside world.”

But before you get too outgoing with the real world, know that the watch also lets you take selfies remotely. With a bluetooth range of 15 feet, that makes for quite the ultimate selfie.

Perhaps the best part about Kenneth Cole’s watch? No charging required, thanks to the good ol’ watch battery: There won’t be any need to make room for another charger in your life.