Just as expected, the Apple Watch went up for pre-order this morning at 12:01 am PT/3:01 am ET. If you wanted an Apple Watch on day one, hopefully you were awake then, because shipping estimates for orders placed now are pretty far out.
Apple’s online store shows that just about every model of Apple Watch is now slated to ship in May or later. New orders of just about every version of the Apple Watch Sport are expected to ship in June, and models of the regular Apple Watch have estimated ship dates ranging from 4-6 weeks for the 42mm Stainless Steel with White Sport band all the way back to July for the 42mm Space Black with Space Black Stainless Steel Link Bracelet. Even buyers of the $10,000+ Apple Watch Edition models will have to wait, with new orders of the gold smartwatch expected to ship in June. Of course, if you’re a celebrity, you may be able to get a gold Apple Watch right now.
Seeing pre-order for delays with a hotly-anticipated Apple product is no surprise, as we usually see them with new iPhone models too. What’s different with the Apple Watch is that you won’t be able to line up at an Apple Store on launch day to try your luck at getting a unit then, as Apple announced yesterday that the Apple Watch will only be available online during the “initial launch period.” Exactly how long that launch period will last is unknown, but it looks like if you haven’t already gotten your order in, you’ll either have to wait for your Apple Watch or turn to the secondary market.
Did you pre-order an Apple Watch this morning? If so, which model did you get?