Apple is going to have to create this market, and I think they have the ability to do so successfully. And the truth is, that can only benefit the market as a whole, and other manufacturers will benefit.
One thing I see that manufacturers of this and similar products are doing, is that they are really emphasizing the Exercise aspect of it. With the West getting fatter and lazier, I don't know if that will be enough to get people to buy it.
“This is a market that really didn’t have pent up demand”
I think it does. People have worn watches for a long time, and for decades the near very best timekeeping could be had for a few dollars ... yet people regularly paid hundreds/thousands of dollars for watches which were inferior timekeepers and had no other value beyond coincidental jewelry. The _money_ was there, but the _function_ wasn’t. People have been paying ridiculous amounts to have functionality on their wrist, without getting the functionality they’ve been paying for. Attempts have been made to put more functionality there, but each attempt failed badly for want of a near-frictionless user experience.
This is more akin to people (us) living happily without smartphones for, well, ever - then getting one, and asking “how the he11 did we live WITHOUT these things?!?”