Apple Watch shoppers already facing long shipping delays

Today is the big day…sort of. Apple’s wrist-borne wearable gadget—the Apple Watch—is now on display in Apple Store locations and pre-orders for the device kicked off today. You might have to wait a few months to get your hands on one, though.

A survey of TechSpective readers found about two-thirds wear a watch, but right now almost 80 percent of those are traditional POW (plain-old watch) devices. Almost 64 percent indicated an interest in buying a smartwatch of some kind, but less than 40 percent claimed to be interested in the Apple Watch. That might be a reflection of the fact that more than 55 percent feel that a smartwatch should cost $200 or less and the entry-level Apple Watch is $350.

If you didn’t stay up all night hitting refresh to order yours the second Apple opened the digital doors, though, you’re in for a long wait. As of right now the basic Apple Watch Sport is showing a projected ship date of “June”. Some of the higher end Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition models are now showing shipping delayed until July.

Our friends at Nomad—makers of the NomadKey, NomadClip, and NomadPlus devices—happened to be on location in Shenzhen, China when the Apple Stores opened with the Apple Watch on display for the first time. They shared some photos with us of the Apple Watch display and the throng of customers there to check out the new device.

I have a suggestion. Patience. There’s a good chance there will be some sort of “antennagate” or “bendgate” or “watchbandgate” issue with the Apple Watch hardware or software. I don’t expect anything catastrophic but it’s a good idea to let others find those issues for you and wait for Apple to resolve them. By the time June or July rolls around the initial problems will most likely be resolved and you’ll be able to just walk into a store and buy one.

Meanwhile, TechSpective has declared it Smartwatch Month in honor of the launch of the Apple Watch. We’re giving away a smartwatch each week this month. This week you can win the Omate X, and next week we’ll be giving away a Burg 16 smartwatch.