Apple Watch Already Selling Out

Updated on

The Apple Watch has brought us back to the big question Wall Street asks whenever a new Apple product is introduced. Is demand for the smartwatch so great that Apple can’t keep up with supply, or was the initial supply so low that the first set of units is already sold out?

Apple Watch sold out

Apple started taking orders for its smartwatch today, and it’s only 8:20 a.m. Eastern, but the Apple Watch is already sold out online. According to Chris Smith of BGR, it didn’t take long for Apple’s website to list all of the units as sold out.

For those who were lucky enough to be able to buy one of the first models, the ship date is April 24, the same day the device will be available in stores. For others, the ship date is four to six weeks after that.

Any lines for the Apple Watch?

In addition to being able to take preorders for the Apple Watch today, consumers were also able to try out the smartwatch for the first time in Apple stores. No one reported any lines to try out the device, suggesting at first that interest was low, which was in line with recent surveys about interest in the Apple Watch.

However, the fact that the Apple Watch is already sold out online indicates that perhaps consumers were so quick to gobble up a new product from the company that they didn’t even care about being able to try it out first.

What about supply?

Analysts will undoubtedly be happy to see how quickly the Apple Watch sold out. However, many will probably be questioning how good supply was for the first run. This was one of the big questions with the launch of the iPhone 6 Plus, as there were reports before the launch that supply was rather low.

We haven’t heard much about supply constraints for the Apple Watch, but recently it was reported that Apple had planned to make it difficult to preorder one. The company had supposedly been planning to limit preorders to one per customer, which could be an indication that management is worried about low initial supply.

Apple Watch too expensive?

Reviews of the Apple Watch indicated a few disappointments, particularly the price tag. The most expensive model, the gold-banded Edition, is also sold out online, indicating that consumers don’t seem to care how much an Apple product costs. Indeed, the Apple brand is very valuable—so valuable that it seems people will buy it blindly, just because it has the Apple brand name on it.

Time will tell whether the average consumer is happy with the Apple Watch. People certainly aren’t shy when it comes to complaining about Apple products on the company’s forum, so a check of the forums on and around April 24 may be very eye-opening.

As of this writing, shares of Apple were down 0.4% to $126.05 per share.

Leave a Comment