Apple Watch will be available for preview and pre-order on Friday, April 10. Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US can try on and experience Apple Watch at their local Apple Store or at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Isetan in Tokyo, Selfridges in London, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in Japan and China. Customers can pre-order their Apple Watch through the Apple Online Store beginning April 10 at 12:01 a.m. PDT for delivery beginning April 24.
“We are excited to welcome customers tomorrow and introduce them to Apple Watch, our most personal device yet. Based on the tremendous interest from people visiting our stores, as well as the number of customers who have gone to the Apple Online Store to mark their favorite Apple Watch ahead of availability, we expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch,” said Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores, in a statement. “To provide the best experience and selection to as many customers as we can, we will be taking orders for Apple Watch exclusively online during the initial launch period.”
Customers interested in learning more about Apple Watch can visit their local Apple Store for a personalized session with a Specialist to try on, fit and size their band, and explore the amazing features of Apple Watch. Customers who want to try on an Apple Watch are encouraged to make an appointment by going to apple.com.
Starting Friday, customers can try on Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport or Apple Watch Edition (at select stores) to find the model with the size, finish and band to best fit their personal preference and style. Everyone visiting an Apple Store will be able to view all three collections and get hands on with Apple Watch Demo to browse and edit different watch faces, and learn about Apple Watch’s health and fitness features, Digital Touch, Siri, Apple Pay and more.
Pre-orders begin April 10 at 12:01 a.m. PDT through the Apple Online Store, the Apple Store app for iPhone and iPad, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in China and Japan. Customers who pre-order their Apple Watch can have it shipped for delivery beginning April 24. All Apple Watch customers will be offered Personal Setup, online or in-store, to pair their Apple Watch with their iPhone. New owners will also learn how to personalize Apple Watch by selecting a watch face, deciding which notifications to receive, setting up the Activity app, and receive an introduction to Apple Pay and the Apple Watch App Store.
Beginning April 24, Apple Watch will also be available at boutiques in major cities including colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Maxfield in Los Angeles and The Corner in Berlin, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in China and Japan.
Apple Watch is an incredibly accurate timepiece, an intimate and immediate communication device and a groundbreaking health and fitness companion. Highly customizable for personal expression, Apple Watch also brings an entirely new way to receive information at a glance and interact with the world through third-party app experiences designed specifically for the wrist.
Apple Watch introduces revolutionary technologies including the Digital Crown, an innovative way to scroll, zoom and navigate fluidly without obstructing the display. The Retina display with Force Touch on Apple Watch senses the difference between a tap and a press, providing a new way to quickly and easily access relevant controls. The all-new Taptic Engine discreetly delivers a gentle tap on your wrist whenever you receive a notification or message.
Apple Watch is available in three collections, Apple Watch Sport, priced at US$349 and $399; Apple Watch, available from $549 to $1,099; and Apple Watch Edition, crafted from custom rose or yellow 18-karat gold alloys, with prices starting at $10,000.
Apple Watch requires iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 or later.
Source: Apple Inc.
Expect immediate criticism of Apple of not being able to fill rabid insatiable Apple Watch demand by the same people who now say sales will be low.
They are gonna call it “watch-gate”
Can’t wait for the youtube video that proves when you hit it with a hammer, it breaks. WATCH-GATE!!
Not to mention, “Will it blend?”
I despise the gratuitous destruction of working devices, particularly when Apple devices are involved. I hope they try to blend the stainless steel version of the Apple Watch and it destroys the blender.
I have to admit that it might be humorous if the Apple Watch “screamed” loudly when struck. Can you imagine the reaction of the person wielding the hammer?!
Apple Watch is the least desirable Apple product – ever. I’m certain that this will not stop some people from purchasing one and incessantly providing excuses for doing so. If Apple could place a silver Apple logo on a turd there would be a fanboy ready and willing to own it.
Not an original nor accurate statement on your part. Nor timely as well as you cast aspersions on the device and Apple fans before the device is even out. Not the brightest move being “premature evaluation.” Be prepared to look silly and foolish if you aren’t already. (In the meantime go out back and have a smoke with your smarter friend Barney.)
I will be purchasing one, and not providing any excuses for doing so. I would like to have one, and I don’t need to justify it to anyone.
h2a:
Want one just to have it? That’s not an intelligent reason. Thanks for proving my point that there are people who will purchase anything made by Apple without a good reason to do so.
Fred – what a pathetic, empty life you must have where you gain enjoyment from coming here and posting such vacuous drivel.
By golly, it’s Fred FUDster.
Fred, they already did that years ago, it was called the Newton 😛
I have pre-ordered my Watch, why? Because it’s my choice. I don’t need to explain it to anyone. Ever.
I bought the original iPhone on launch day back in 2007. People were forever commenting “you bought a phone?” “it’s not even 3G!” amongst others. I merely replied “it’s the best mobile phone out there that seamlessly syncs with my Macs. That shut them up quick enough.
Those same doubters all use Macs now and all have their own iPhones/ iPads etc, some have even bought the Watch too.
Horses for courses
it seems dumb for the Apple Retail staff to not offer to place the order at the time of the fitting, albeit online, for the customer who queued up to try on his prospective Watch. That just makes sense to seize the positive regard the customer has for the product. duh.
Yeah, that does seem a bit counterintuitive to let a sale just walk away.
Who said they won’t place the order for them in the store? I haven’t read any such thing yet. If some grandmother shows up asking an Apple Store employee to help her place an online order for an Apple Watch, they’re not going to say no and send her home. It’s silly to even think that might possibly happen.
Some people may buy, w/o a trial on the wrist. But the wrist is a very personal area, unlike a pocket.
But I’ll bet the Apple Stores are simply swamped with people who want to know what it feels and looks like in person before swiping the card.
Analyst slashes Apple Watch forecast on so-called ‘tepid’ survey data
I guess that’s why there are going to sell out and be unable to meet the demand eh?
What’s funny in that article is that they said tepid meant they only expected 9% of Apple’s customers to make the purchase. If that’s true, Apple will be selling three million a month, hardly tepid, to catch up with current iPhones capable of supporting an Watch.
The article was via Reuters, they have lost all credibility. It’s now will print for payola.
TIC-TOCgate
Apple website is fairly slow just now…
Too much traffic with people making last minutes decisions?
Yep, that’s why I was there. 🙂
Uh, oh! The media frenzy is starting to shift into high gear. Maybe I should say the solid-fuel thrusters have been ignited and there’s no shut-off until the fuel is completely spent.
This is an Apple event like no other in history.
The analysts are challenged. their expectation machinery won’t work properly on something so new and untested, so their predictions will be out of whack, their trajectory erratic and maybe they even blow out an o-ring
My response to headline: Ya think?
“Apple Watch demand expected to exceed supply at launch”
Also in the news…
“Water expected to be wet when touched”
“Air expected to be available in the atmosphere”
“A rock is expected to fall when you let go of it”
and many, many more.
I am shocked – shocked I tell you!
A new Apple device/product in short supply at launch.
Well, I guess it’s allowed once. In a blue moon.
How about once per product launch.
12:11 a.m. and no dice. 3:11 a.m. EDT (MY TIME) WTF