So you’ve ordered an Apple Watch….
The company is hoping you’re a patient, understanding person, because you won’t be receiving it for a little while.
Many die-hard Apple fans were dismayed and more than a little annoyed to find out the demand for the new gadgets means people will have to wait, and wait, and in some cases wait a little longer, before getting their shiny new toy with a price tag ranging from $349 for an Apple Watch Sport with a rubbery black band to $17,000 for the 18k gold variety.
When placing orders, customers are seeing expected shipping dates as far away as August for their new Apple Watches. By late Friday afternoon (April 10), word was that anyone ordering a stainless steel model might – might – be able to get one in May. Pre-orders started at 12:01 a.m. EST Friday and shipments are scheduled to begin on April 24.
How long it takes a customer to get his or her smart watch will depend which model is selected. A full list of expected shipment dates is available here.
And if you’re on the fence about ordering one, don’t forget – unlike all other Apple technology, an appointment is required to see one in person.
Even after the watch arrives, don’t expect to understand how to operate it immediately.
In his State of the Art column for the New York Times, Farhad Manjoo admits it took him “three long, often confusing and frustrating days” before he “fell hard” for the watch. The first day was to learn the “initially complex user interface”; the second to determine how it would fit into his life; the third to figure out what Apple might have determined the watch’s purpose to be in a world filled with other technologies with similar capabilities. After that, he was head-over-heels.
“It was only on Day 4 that I began appreciating the ways in which the elegant $650 computer on my wrist was just another screen,” he swoons. “By notifying me of digital events as soon as they happened, and letting me act on them instantly, without having to fumble for my phone,, the Watch became something like a natural extension of my body —a direct link, in a way that I’ve never felt before, from the digital world to my brain. The effect was so powerful that people who’ve previously commented on my addition to my smartphone started noticing a change in my behavior; my wife told me that I seemed to be getting lost in my phone less than in the past. She found that a blessing.”
Needless to say, that’s from someone who didn’t have to wait months on end to get one.
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