Apple Watch Pre-orders
Today was the first day for Apple Watch pre-orders. Being an Apple nerd, I like to have anything that's newly released from Apple, that I want to purchase, on day one. Here is my pre-order story.
After Apple's September event, where they unveiled the Apple Watch, I looked at the different models of the Apple Watch. With this being a first generation Apple product, I knew that I would not want to spend a lot of money. Mostly because I do not know what the day to day benefit of a watch would be. The secondary reason is that I will likely end up getting the second generation when it comes out. Only time will tell whether I follow my iPhone [footnote] I have purchased a new iPhone every year regardless of contract. I have now decided on buying unlocked only.[/footnote] or my iPad [footnote] I bought the first, second and third generations. I then waited until the 6th generation to buy my next iPad.[/footnote] pattern. The third reason is that I stopped wearing watches about a decade ago.
As I mentioned, I looked at all of the Apple Watch models. I wanted to keep the price down, so I knew I was going to get a sport model. I have always liked the way that the Space Gray Apple devices have looked. I ultimately decided that I wanted to get the 42MM Space Gray Sport with the black band. Knowing that Apple Watch pre-orders started today, I favorited the configuration I wanted to purchase, to make it easy for ordering.
Living in the Central US time zone, I set my alarm for 1:45 AM. I woke up just before my alarm at 1:44AM. Bleary-eyed and only half awake I made my way to my computer to be able to order. I pulled up the Apple Store webpage in two browsers, and opened the Apple Store app on both my iPad and iPhone. I did this because during the iPhone pre-orders, the application came up before the website.
Once the Apple Store app became live, I quickly went to the watch section, went to my favorites, and began ordering. I chose the 42MM Space Gray with Black Band. I then added Apple Care. I went to check out. The date said 4/24 to 5/8 for delivery. It was not guaranteed to be delivered on launch day, but that was okay. I wanted to use a different payment method besides what I have setup in Apple Pay. [footnote] My bank does not support Apple Pay, why, I do not know.[/footnote] I entered in all of the information for the payment. When I got back to the confirm purchase page, I watched as the date refreshed from the launch window, to 4 to 6 weeks. At this point, my heart dropped knowing that I would not get it during the launch window. I think choosing a different payment method is what the time change.
Having seen this, I quickly went back and put in a second order. One for a 42MM Silver with the Blue sport band, since that was the only other 42MM Sport watch that did not have a 4 to 6 week shipping time. So I put in an order for that watch, and used Apple Pay to pay. That one stated 4/24 to 5/8. I then placed a third order. This one includes a 6 meter charging cable and a Black Sport band. Somewhat ironically, the charging cable will be the first item to ship and arrive.
Looking at it afterwards, the emails indicating that my orders have been placed were sent at 2:05AM, 2:07AM, and 2:16AM respectively. With the app being available at 2:00AM, this means that the 42MM Space Gray Sport sold out in about 3 minutes. As of this writing, all of the models have a ship date of June. The Apple Watch Editions vary between July and August for ship dates.
Dilemma
After having gone through the experience, I mentioned it to a couple of people I follow on Twitter, particularly @BearsFan34. So here is where the dilemma I am currently experiencing. Do I want to have the Apple Watch early and not get the model that I originally wanted or do I wait for the one I want and just not have it during "Launch window".
The other option I have is to just keep both. It seems excessive, but I could always return the 42MM Silver Sport with Blue Band or sell it to somebody. Unlike many, I would not mark up the watch 200%, just to make a profit. I do not see this as a fair thing.
My initial inclination is to cancel the Blue Sport After talking to a few people about the dilemma, and sitting back and reflecting on it, my inclination is to cancel the 42MM Silver Sport with Blue Band, as well as the Black sports band from the third order I placed. If I were to do this, somebody who pre-ordered from Apple would be getting their order early, which is always a nice thing to see.
I gave myself a deadline of tomorrow morning to decide. So I will be sleeping on it tonight and making my decision and then doing something at that time.
Sidebars
As a quick side note, Apple has released some new Beats Solo 2 headphones. These come in three new colors, Silver, Gold, and Space Gray. I am going to be on the lookout for a couple of pairs of bluetooth headphones. I may look at these, but given the price tag of $299, I will likely look for something a bit cheaper. If anybody has any recommendations, I will gladly accept them. If I really wanted to, I could justify buying a pair by canceling the 42MM Silver Sport with Blue band.
Also, today was the day that orders for the 12" Macbook. The 1.1GHz Macbook is seeing 1-3 business days for shipping for the Silver and Space Gray models. The Gold model is 3 to 4 weeks. The 1.2GHz Silver is 1-3 Business days, while the Gold and Space Grey are listed as 3 to 4 weeks.