It only took a couple of hours for delivery dates to begin pushing back on Apple Watch pre-order day, and while the company’s supply chain will eventually meet with demand, the time is certainly not now. Orders of the more sizable 42mm versions of the Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch are now being hit with estimated delivery dates of July, and given that we’ve only just ticked over for May, that’s quite a length of time to wait on arrival.
As is often the case during the early stages of an iPhone launch, the real issue is not so much the glaring discrepancy between order date and delivery, but the fact that a large portion of Apple’s initial inventory is being resold at extortionate rates. It’s not necessarily the fault of the resellers themselves — if somebody is impatient enough to pay a huge markup on a smartwatch for the sake of impatience, then so be it — but if Apple has a habit of under-stocking for a big launch, and a two-month waiting time is not a great showing.
In fairness, this is a new product category altogether, so a certain level of conservativeness in early unit numbers should be expected, but since Apple has a strong enough team to do its homework beforehand — the Apple Watch was announced back in September, after all — the Cupertino ought to have had a better idea of how many sales it would reach.
The 42mm Apple Watch or Apple Watch Sport, will, via the US online store, show a delivery date of July, and the same goes for China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and the UK. Up until a few hours ago, it was June, and if you’re after the 38mm variant of the Apple Watch, you should still be able to use it before the end of next month.
With videos hitting the Web of folks smashing up Apple Watches for fun, the situation for waiting on their orders is even more tantalizing, and although I personally believe the second-gen model will be a much more worthwhile pursuit than this inaugural edition, I do still feel a touch of sympathy for the would-be early adopters who still can’t get hold of the device.
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