SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apple tried to discourage fans from lining up outside its retail stores as its first entirely new product since the iPad debuted Friday, but a handful of shoppers still arrived early to check out the Apple Watch as supplies dwindled online.
Mac Choudry, a 37-year-old San Jose resident, was the first customer waiting outside an Apple Store in San Jose, where Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s retail chief, greeted customers. Choudry arrived at 8 a.m. to secure his spot, and he was joined by just a few other customers half an hour before doors opened at 10 a.m. – a far cry from the hundreds of people that greeted the launch of the iPhone 6 in September.
A longtime lover of Apple products, Choudry said he was determined to be the first to try on the Apple Watch.
“This is a very innovative piece of technology,” said Choudry.
Friday was the first day Apple customers throughout the U.S. and in eight other countries could try out the smartwatch in the company’s retail stores. In a break from Apple’s previous product launches, however, orders for the watch are being taken exclusively online during the “initial launch period,” Preorders began online at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time Friday, with the gadget shipping as early as April 24, but online shoppers were being told it would be 4 to 6 weeks for some versions of the device early Friday morning.
Choudry pre-ordered nine Apple Watches – one for himself, one for his wife, and a handful for family and friends – minutes after they went on sale. But the gadgets will not ship until April 24, and Choudry was impatient to try them out, so he reported to the Apple Store bright and early.
He was joined outside the store by software engineer Dino Farinacci, another devout Apple fan who has been buying the tech giant’s products for 20 years. Like Choudry, he pre-ordered the watch in the wee hours of Friday morning, settling on a space gray watch in the “sport” collection, which starts at $349.
“I’m probably going to upgrade next year,” said Farinacci, a 55-year-old San Jose resident.
In a statement Thursday detailing the online-only purchases, Ahrendts suggested the process will help Apple balance supply to demand for the device, which comes in two sizes and three collections, with a range of interchangeable bands.
The watch’s arrival in stores marks a new chapter for Apple as it releases its first new product since the iPad in 2010. Apple has touted the gadget’s health and fitness tracking, communication tricks and style appeal.
The watch starts at $349 and fetches as much as $17,000 for solid gold models.
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