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 The Apple Watch, CEO Tim Cook's first new major product and the
company's first foray into the personal luxury goods market, was
available for pre-order online and to try out in stores -- but not
to take home.
On April 24, consumers will be able to buy it online or by
appointment in shops including trendy fashion boutiques in Paris,
London and Tokyo, part of Apple's strategy of positioning the
wearable computer as a must-have accessory.
Testing Apple's mastery of consumer trends, the watch is an untried
concept for the California-based company. It straddles a technology
market accustomed to rapid obsolescence and luxury goods whose
appeal lies in their enduring value.
Before the Paris Apple store opened at 0900 local time, about 100
people were queuing outside. Staff cheered and applauded the first
customers, most of them men aged under 30. "I have everything from
Apple so now I need to get the watch," said 19-year-old Jeremy Dugue
wearing an Armani leather jacket after ordering the stainless steel
model at 1,149 euros.
The Apple Watch sport starts at $349 while the standard version
comes in at $549 in the U.S. High-end "Edition" watches with
18-karat gold alloys are priced from $10,000 and go as high as
$17,000. Within the first hour in Paris, many customers had
pre-ordered their watch, and several went for the entry-level model
with a black plastic bracelet.
High demand means some shoppers in Paris will have to wait 4-6 weeks
before their watch arrives. "It was comfortable, I didn't think it
would be that comfortable. It's an easy way of managing your busy
life," said 19-year old student Omar Alborno, one of the first to
try on the watch at London's luxury Selfridges department store.
MIXED REVIEWS
Earlier on Friday, Apple's flagship store in Sydney's financial
district was packed with those hoping to get the first peek at the
device, although just around 20 die-hard fans queued out front,
modest by the standards of a major Apple launch.
Based on recent customer interest at its stores, Apple expects
demand for the watch, which allows users to check email, listen to
music and make phone calls when paired with an iPhone, to exceed
availability at launch.
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Reviewers this week praised the watch, which also helps users
monitor their health and exercise, as "beautiful" and "stylish" but
gave it poor marks for relatively low battery life and slow-loading
apps. Sales estimates for 2015 vary widely.
Piper Jaffray predicts 8 million units and Global Securities
Research forecasts 40 million. By comparison, Apple sold nearly 200
million iPhones last year. Apple's watch is widely expected to
outsell those by Samsung, Sony Corp and Fitbit, that have attracted
modest interest from consumers.
It will likely account for 55 percent of global smartwatch shipments
this year, according to Societe Generale. "Apple will outsell its
wearable rivals by a very wide margin but it will do this on the
power of its brand and its design alone," independent technology
analyst Richard Windsor said. "Consequently, I am sticking to my 20
million forecast for the first 12 months and see the potential for
some sogginess in the stock as reality sets in."
(This version of the story adds comments from Paris and London)
(Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru, Teppei
Kasai in Tokyo and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Keith Weir)
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