14 DAY TRIAL // Tim Cook has confirmed this week that Apple plans to debut its revolutionary smart-watch in April, but at least some people are already using the gizmo in the wild.
Mark Sullivan says he was riding the train to work on Thursday when he noticed a person wearing the much hyped (and currently-unavailable to the masses) Apple Watch.
“No, it wasn’t one of the knockoffs they were selling at CES,” he writes. “This thing looked like a luxury item, and it had the now familiar ‘bubbles’ Watch user interface. I saw a text reminder on the screen, and then, briefly, a map. It appeared that the guy had been using the Watch for some time and was pretty used to it.”
Bubbly GUI: check. Notifications: check. Maps: check. Intuitive usage: check. These are all signs that the device was indeed Apple’s, and the company is known to have handed a few units out for testing. In all fairness, Sullivan was probably sharing the train with an Apple employee.
Pricing and availability
As noted above, the watch will ship in April, but it’s unclear who is getting it first. The US is certainly on that list, and China being such an important market for Apple as of late should also receive a batch around that time. UK and other Asian countries where Apple is in huge demand should also be able to get their hands on the hardware in spring.
Apple Watch will start at $350 / €350. For that price, you’ll be able to secure a Sport edition with a band whose color you get to choose. A more expensive version estimated by analysts at $500 / €500 will put steel on your wrist, while the Edition model – which is made of gold – is expected to run in the thousands of dollars.