10,000 Samsung Gear S watches sold in South Korea on launch day

Samsung announced its Gear S a couple of months ago and has recently launched the smartwatch in South Korea and the US. The Gear S managed to shift 10,000 units on its launch day in Korea, marking a strong start for Samsung’s latest wearable.

The Samsung Gear S is a little different than some smartwatches currently on the market. For starters it comes fully SIM-enabled, allowing it to place and take calls without the need for a companion smartphone.

S-Voice, a heart rate monitor, GPS, curved display, and IP67 dust and water resistance also make for a compelling hardware offering. These are all likely to be contributing factors to the smartwatch’s early appeal. The Gear S is also running Samsung’s own Tizen operating system, like many of Samsung’s earlier watches, rather than Google’s Android Wear platform.

The watch made its debut through South Korean carriers SK Telecom and KT. The Gear S should also now be available through AT&T, Sprint and at Best Buy’s Samsung Experience Stores in the US, with T-Mobile and Verizon versions to follow shortly. We should have a better picture of the watch’s global appeal come the end of the year.

What do you think has made the Gear S a popular choice? Are SIM capabilities a must for all future smartphones, or are a combination of style and hardware features, such as a heart rate monitor, more appealing?