Apple’s $12,000 ticker
Sold in NY, not NJ
Sorry, New Jersey — you’ll have to brave the bridges and tunnels to Manhattan if you want a topoftheline Apple Watch.
After a twomonth delay, the tech titan this week quietly began selling its Apple Watch at its stores. The catch: You have to book an appointment online, and not all models are available everywhere.
The lowestprice Sport model, at $349, was available for pickup at stores across most states nationwide, Apple’s site indicated Thursday afternoon. Ditto for the standard version of the watch, whose pricing starts at $549.
But for those who want an instore buying experience for the socalled Apple Watch Edition, whose prices run $10,000 and up, Apple stores in just six states — New York, California, Illinois, Texas, Florida and Delaware — carry them, according to the company’s site. And even in those states, supplies are scarce.
In New York, for example, Apple’s Fifth Avenue flag ship was the only location that had stock of the $12,000 Edition model featuring an 18carat gold case with a black sport band.
The highestpriced versions, including one with a rosegold case that retails for $17,000, weren’t available at any store. A $15,000 model with a black, classic buckle, meanwhile, could be had in California, Texas, Florida, Illinois and Delaware — but not New York.
Even as the store rollout began, fresh reports surfaced Thursday about the next version of the watch. Slated for release in 2016, the “Apple Watch 2” may get a video camera, according to tech blog 9to5 Mac.
Separately, research firm Slice Intelligence reported on Thursday that 2.8 million Apple Watches have been sold since their online debut in June. Nearly 20 percent of buyers elected to buy extra bands for their watches, the firm noted.
Prices for the bands range from $49 for the brightly colored Sport bands, to $449 for a stainlesssteel link bracelet.