The Apple Watch will hit store shelves in the United States in less than two months. Naturally, the supply chain is now moving in order to meet the first-wave demand.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is already ordering somewhere between 5 to 6 million Apple Watch units to be manufactured just in time for April 1st, the expected first day of sales for Apple's first ever wearable device. That initial roll-out of units would put the Apple Watch on par with the original iPad.
Many industry watchers are predicting that the highly anticipated Apple smartwatch offering will ignite the wearable device industry. The 5 million estimated number of initial orders for the Apple Watch will certainly trump Android Wear's numbers, which as of the end of 2014 is pegged at 720,000.
Still, nothing is for certain, of course. As strong as the Apple Watch's initial demand appears to be, there is no knowing for sure how many consumers will flock to US stores by April in order to purchase the Apple wearable device.
Another factor that needs to be considered is the manner of distribution. The Apple Watch is being pushed in three lines. On the entry-level is the Apple Watch Sport, while the Apple Watch occupies the mid-range level. As for the upper price tiers, the Apple Watch Edition is being offered to premium-level consumers.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, about half of the initial production of the wearable device will be dedicated to the Apple Watch Sport. As for the rest, one third will be taken up by the Apple Watch, while the remaining chunk will consist of the pricier Apple Watch Edition models, which feature cases made of 18-karat gold.
Moreover, it should be noted that the Apple Watch is an entirely new product category for Apple. It also unique in the sense that in order for consumers to buy the wearable device, they are required to already have an iPhone of their own. Otherwise, they will not be able to use the Apple Watch at all. Some may think that this may constitute a difficulty for Apple. But the company is pretty confident that it can go over that hurdle, and maybe even capture the lead in terms of wearable device sales. After all, the best-selling smartwatch so far has been Pebble, which managed to ship about 1 million units since it launched back in 2013. If Apple can just bring the Apple Watch to stores where consumers can buy them, it will put itself in a very good position to become king of the smartwatches, too.
