“You could pay a lot of money for an Apple Watch on eBay,” David Goldman reports for CNN. “Or you could keep your fingers crossed and hope that you have a really thoughtful significant other who already bought you one.”
“But now Apple is adding a third option to the list,” Goldman reports. “Apple developers received an email this week allowing them to enter a lottery to buy an Apple Watch Sport with a 42mm silver aluminum case and a blue sport band. The best part: It’s guaranteed to ship by April 28.”
“To take part in the random drawing, developers have to enter the lottery by Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. Apple says ‘quantities are limited,'” Goldman reports. “If you’re not a developer, don’t worry — you can become one for $99… You can still pre-order an Apple Watch online, and you can make an appointment to try one on in an Apple Store. But you’ll likely have to wait until at least June for your Apple Watch to ship to you.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Step right up and get your $99 Apple Watch Sport with Blue Sport Band lottery ticket!
Related article:
Apple offers developers a chance at expedited Apple Watch orders guaranteed to ship by April 28th – April 21, 2015
You spend $99 for the “chance” to get an Apple watch, and unless I missed something, its not going to be free?
I would like to see Apple indicate in some fashion that they are getting production ramped up and that any order on 4/10 will show up before June..
“enter a lottery to buy”
I believe you are correct. And so I bet there will be quite a few of those “winners”. 😉
No, you’ll get a chance to buy it. But it’s not designed this way. It’s a chance for registered developers to have the watch sooner than waiting so they can build apps. Non-developers paying $99 to become registered developers just for this is not what apple had in mind. But for those still wanting to do it, weigh the benefits. You get way more than just this, including beta access to iOS and tons of resources for learning to develop apps. I’m not a practicing developer myself, but have been a registered developer for 3 years now getting ready to go on 4 just for the early access to beta iOS. You just have to decide if the $99 price tag is worth it to you, and what benefits of membership make that value for you personally.
As a tip though, I also registered a business under my blog’s name, and for the same $99 price was able to register as a business developer rather than an individual. So I have a few friends that are able to be members of that business account and can share the annual $99 cost. Alternating who pays each year is also a way to make it seem more worth the cost if you already have a business in your name.
or be patient, check your order status 10-12 times a day and June will be here before you know it! 🙁
I predict that Apple will in fact be shipping much more quickly than they are even letting the stores know. AA’s messages to retail seem to paint a pretty bleak picture of that happening, but I still expect they are pushing hard and fast and most early preorders will hit well before June, many still in April.
“Under promise and over deliver” is a great strategy.
So I’m confused on this. I’m already a registered developer but never got an email. It sounds like you have to fill out a form to be entered into the lottery, but where is this form? They aren’t going to just say “hey you were one of the developers that get to buy an apple watch” without first saying you’re interested in doing it.
What would have been nicer would have been registered developers get bumped up in line if they had a pre-existing preorder.
At least then they get the model they wanted.
As of Wed. 4/22 there is no shipping status for my orders, which I thought were to be delivered on 4/24. Is anybody going to get their watch on Friday?
No joy for my 42mm Space Gray WATCH SPORT order placed 12:03am. 😨😂
I don’t think that this is fair. They’re allowing developers to jump ahead of all of the people who preorded on 4/10. This is the exact model that I ordered yet I have to wait until June to get it. This is proof that they obviously have this model in stock. They should be sending them to customers who preordered them first.
Stop whining. Developers need the devices. Honestly they should have shipped watches to developers well before the official release.
I’m not whining. I’m stating fact. It most certainly is unfair.
No, it is not “unfair”, it’s a whiny first-world complaint. Unfair is being born into a third world country where you have no opportunity to even know about the Apple Watch.
Bad advice!
Select developers got those emails already. I doubt if you just became a developer today after reading this, that Apple would send you the link. You have to have been invited for a chance already.