Mobile users who are thinking of ordering the Apple Watch, Apple’s first foray into wearable devices, via the tech giant’s website will not have to wait too long for their orders to arrive to their destination. As seen on the company’s Apple Watch online store, most models of the Apple Watch are now readily available -- meaning that they are either instantly available for shipping, or are needing only one single business day before they get shipped to customers. Now compare this to April earlier this year when Apple’s smartwatch was first launched -- buyers who purchased the device online were required to wait for a few weeks and even as long as a month for certain Apple Watch models to begin shipping.
To date, the Apple Watch is generally available in three models -- the entry level Apple Watch Sport that starts at $349, the midrange Apple Watch that starts at $549, and the luxury Apple Watch Edition that starts at $10,000. The $349 Apple Watch Sport model is immediately available, while the $399 variant requires a wait time of one day. As for the midrange Apple Watch, the $549 variant is available immediately, while the $599 variant has a wait time of one day. With regards to the luxury Apple Watch Edition, the $10,000 variant with rose gold case and white sport band has a wait time of 3 to 5 business days, while the $10,000 with yellow gold case and black sport band has a wait time of 5 to 7 business days. The $12,000 has a wait time of 3 to 5 days, while all the other more pricey Apple Watch Edition variants have varying wait times but none beyond 5 to 7 days. Take note though that interested buyers can now also get the Apple Watch via reservations for in-store purchases.
Apple has always acknowledged the big gap between the demand for the Apple Watch and its supply upon the first days or weeks of its launch. The company cited this as a significant reason for initially limiting the Apple Watch’s availability to online orders only. When it was launched, the Apple Watch was already competing against smartwatches and wearable devices made by other companies such as Samsung, Motorola, and LG, just to name a few, but apparently, Apple’s smartwatch is doing remarkably well, as evidenced by the high demand despite the limited supply.
Interestingly, Apple has not released any official information yet on the actual sales figures of its one and only wearable device. But that has not stopped industry watchers from estimating anyway just how many units of the Apple Watch have been sold so far. Last month, research firm Slice Intelligence estimated that Apple may have already sold 2.79 million Apple Watches since April of this year, based on email receipts of online orders for the device. Another research firm, Strategy Analytics, as well as KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, forecasted a few months ago that Apple will likely ship 15 million units or more of its Apple Watch in 2015. Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty also predicted that Apple will sell 30 million units of the Apple Watch in the first 12 months of release of the device.
