back to article Pre-order consumergasm will leave Apple Watches out of stock for months

An estimated one million consumers have flashed the plastic to pre-order an Apple Watch, leaving the fruity firm without stock to meet additional demand for months. According to Slice Intelligence, roughly one million fanbois in the US have pre-ordered one or more of the smartwatches. Or The Watch That Watches You Back, as …

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        1. John 104

          A hearty downvote for you sir.

          Just because technology is old, doesn't mean it isn't cool. A precision built watch or clock is just as technically challenging to engineer as a smart watch or other gadget. The quartz movement was brought to the consumer in the 70's. To date, it is still an accurate method of keeping track of time and has been improved upon immensely.

          Oh, and all those old timey watches that tell time and maybe the date tend to go for years on a battery, not a day.

          1. Dana W

            Re: A hearty downvote for you sir.

            Battery? Your Vintage watches have a BATTERY? Whats wrong with a nice 23 Jewel Automatic?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The traditional solution

      Just have the time written down on a piece of paper.

      1. Bloakey1

        Re: The traditional solution

        "Just have the time written down on a piece of paper."

        Your name is Eccles and I claim my five pounds.

    2. Captain DaFt

      "If a watch can't even last a whole day then what flipping use is it?"

      So you can look at it to tell how many minutes of charge you have left on it.

      See? It generates its own uses!

  1. Nanners

    One million

    apple employees ordered watches.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I suppose

    Chinese copies of the Apple watch, running Android already are for sale on Ebay, but for a tenth of the original price.

    1. eSeM

      Re: I suppose

      To make them more authentic they have had to cripple the battery life and make them completely useless.

      1. ThomH

        Re: I suppose @eSeM

        Battery life is dreadful across the entire range of smartwatches. As is usefulness...

        1. D@v3

          Re: I suppose @eSeM

          i dunno, the 5-8 days i get out of mine is ok (for me at least)

  3. Haku
    Thumb Up

    I am actually looking forward to the release of the Apple Watch.

    No I don't want one, I'm keeping an eye on all the other gadget/watch manufacturers scrabbling to produce their own offerings so I can select one of theirs which will be more suited to my wants (and at a nicer price).

  4. Yugguy

    Munny

    To be honest if people want to splash their hard-earned cash on some over-priced tat, let them.

    It's not going to make me ever want one.

  5. VinceH

    "Following Apple's admission that it, and all of its staff, really hate queueing fanbois, the watches were only available to pre-order online and were not for sale in most stores."

    So, presumably, since they dislike the queues that much, this will be the only option in future for any new release/version of any iToy - and it's definitely not a cunning ploy to hide the lack of queues for this particular item.

    Yeah. We'll see.

  6. chivo243 Silver badge
    Trollface

    You have to order

    in order for the factory to build you one!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Isn't there a Chinese proverb

    man with one clock knows the time ...

    man with two clocks doesn't ....

    ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Isn't there a Chinese proverb

      And also: a man with one clock has two hands. A man with many clocks still only has two hands.

      1. Fink-Nottle

        Re: Isn't there a Chinese proverb

        Man with one clock, who said he was thinking of getting another clock, will soon be called "Two Clocks" by some people.

        1. Bloakey1

          Re: Isn't there a Chinese proverb

          "Man with one clock, who said he was thinking of getting another clock, will soon be called "Two Clocks" by some people."

          A dog with two cocks is proud and a dog with no cock is a bitch .

          Thus sayeth Arthur Two Clocks Jackson.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Isn't there a Chinese proverb

      But the man with two clocks can take an average and be statistically more accurate.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

    1.3 watches, huh?

    <"According to ereceipt data from 9,080 online shoppers, each Apple Watch buyer ordered an average of 1.3 watches," Slice revealed.>

    What a stupid, pointless, meaningless metric. You can't buy 1.3 watches.

    A histogram of how many people bought 1, 2, 3 etc watches would be far more meaningful.

  9. msknight

    I do find myself wondering...

    ...that if the Apple phone has pay by bonk in the phone that requires people to end up keeping them in signal-protected jeans pockets to keep their money safe .. then what will that do to the iWatch when it has to work harder to talk with the phone?

    I mean, seriously ... my handbag is a "city-safe" with steel wired straps, slashproof sides, etc. and has protected pockets inside it for cards, etc. specifically to protect against unauthorised bumping (ooh er.) ... and as I live in a poor signal area, things like device chatter-signal strength-blocking thingies ... matter to me.

  10. Greg J Preece

    $707 eh?

    That's ironic. I recently spent that exact amount of money buying a new toilet. Probably more comfortable/functional in the long run.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        Re: $707 eh?

        At least with the toilet, one touch of a button (ok, sometimes two, and maybe the use of a wire coathanger to break up the larger chunks), and the shit is gone.

  11. John 104

    Old Tricks are the Best

    I'll stick to my never had the case opened, battery has been pulling strong for 10 years Citizen EcoDrive. Looses a second or two every 6 months and charges in about 15 minutes in direct sunlight (longer under indoor lighting), which is good for 6 months.

    It does one thing and it does it very well and will continue to do so for many years I expect.

  12. CmdrX3

    I don't know

    I think most will be pretty pissed off with the unfinished build quality of their 0.3 of a watch.

  13. Ian Joyner Bronze badge

    More Troll feeding

    You can see from most of the comments here, this is just more troll feeding from Register.

  14. Kunari

    And so it begins...

    The breathless (masturbatory-like) articles about how the latest Apple babble is selling faster than the last one. Soon will be flood of "unboxing" videos, then the "My first Day/Week/Month with the Apple Watch".

    Personally, I'm waiting for the "This man proposed to his girlfriend using Apple Watch heartbeat share".

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Katy Perry has already ditched her Gold Apple Watch by the looks of it.

    The Daily Mail showed a tweet of KP wearing her gold Apple Watch, last week. This week she was pictured without it at Coachella. You can only do some much PR - when you're Partying.

  16. Dana W

    That can't be. The leading lights of this forum assured us it will NEVER sell. And that nobody will wear a watch anymore.

    I'm still indifferent, and we own six Macs. First is a Fools game. If I ever get one, I'll wait six months and get one cheap off Craigslist or a pawnshop. I still don't see the draw, but apparently I'm in the minority.

  17. Alan Denman

    If only they had sold it at $799

    then they might have got 2 million US buyers.

    Theres nothing like quite like a more expensive glitter to attract them little fishies

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