preorders

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are now available to preorder from Apple’s Online Store and participating carriers in the twelve launch countries, priced from $199 through $499 on a typical 2 year contract. Last year, Apple sold ten million phones in opening weekend numbers and analysts expect similar results this time. Until the phones go out of stock, preorders made today should deliver on the 25th September when the phones officially go on sale. There haven’t been any rumors of limited stock availability but we’ll keep you posted …

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A study by Slice Intelligence estimates that Apple recorded 957,000 Apple Watch preorders on Friday in the US, the first day the device was available to order. On average, customers bought 1.3 watches which means that many customers ordered two or more units. The Sport model was the most popular choice, making up 62% of orders. As the Watch debuted in nine countries, it is possible that total orders were much greater than the 1 million number which only totals US orders. Significant supply constraints may have dampened initial orders however.

The most popular model purchased was the Space Grey Sport, followed by the normal stainless steel Apple Watch, then the Silver Sport. The Space Black Apple Watch model captured just 3% of orders although it was in limited supply (4 – 6 weeks) from the beginning of preorders and is also the most expensive model of Apple Watch. The report ignores sales data for the Apple Watch Edition in its calculations.

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Update: All Apple Watch models in the US are now at minimum 4 – 6 week shipping estimates in less than six hours.

Whether due to high demand or low supply, all models of Apple Watch have now almost entirely sold out with many slipping delivery date estimates in mere minutes of preorders opening. In the US, the 38 mm Stainless Steel Case with Black Classic Buckle is the only model still on offer with a ‘April 24th – May 8th’ shipping date.

AppleCare+ pricing is now also visible on store.apple.com. AppleCare+ costs $49 for Apple Watch Sport, $69 for Apple Watch and $1500 for Apple Watch Edition. Interestingly, Apple is also offering a ‘combo purchase’ where you can buy AppleCare+ for both your iPhone and your Watch at a bundled price of $100 more. The bundle prices don’t offer any saving over buying both devices  (if you can ignore the negligible $1 difference), so they seem to be offered as a convenience purchase only.

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<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/04/08/apple-watch-ship-times-4-to-6-weeks-may-for-edition/">Leaked delivery details</a> from Apple.com indicated supply would be constrained.

Update: A reader got a reply from Apple CEO Tim Cook about the situation. See below.

Apple has today posted a press release reaffirming that Apple Watch try-on sessions and preorders start tomorrow, Friday April 10th. It also confirms that Apple Watch orders will be exclusively online for the launch period.

Angela Ahrendts says that Apple expects demand to outstrip supply at launch on the back of tremendous interest from customers viewing watches online and in the Apple Store app. As such, this has forced the company to limit orders to online only for the time being.

“We are excited to welcome customers tomorrow and introduce them to Apple Watch, our most personal device yet. Based on the tremendous interest from people visiting our stores, as well as the number of customers who have gone to the Apple Online Store to mark their favorite Apple Watch ahead of availability, we expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch,” said Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores. “To provide the best experience and selection to as many customers as we can, we will be taking orders for Apple Watch exclusively online during the initial launch period.”

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Apple has just announced that preorders for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have topped all previously set records, achieving 4 million sales in the first twenty-four hours. In the press release, Cook said he is thrilled that customers love them “as much as we do”.

Apple® today announced a record number of first day pre-orders of iPhone® 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the biggest advancements in iPhone history, with over four million in the first 24 hours. Demand for the new iPhones exceeds the initial pre-order supply and while a significant amount will be delivered to customers beginning on Friday and throughout September, many iPhone pre-orders are scheduled to be delivered in October.

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Pre-orders for the iPhone 6 will start at 12:01 a.m. PDT and will be available to purchase in Apple Stores on Sept. 19th, 2014, but what isn’t widely known is that it looks like Apple is kicking off Personal Pickup availability starting with preorders as well. This means that you’ll be able to preorder an iPhone 6 and select a store in your area and pick it up on launch day….

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Unlike the rest of the world, China and Hong Kong can reserve the iPhone 5s starting today. However, just minutes after the phone became available, most models and colors sold out across the country.

At the time of writing, only the 16 GB ‘space grey’ SKU’s remain available for reservation. All other models have sold out and are “currently unavailable” according to the online store. Sina reported on the phenomenon, noting that the gold model, in particular, was in high demand…
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Update: Apple appears to have changed shipping times once again since we originally posted this article. The blue and green unlocked 16GB models are now listed as shipping by September 25 alongside the white, pink & yellow models.

Update 2: Now including 32GB models, all unlocked, non-T-Mobile iPhone 5c units shipping Sep. 25.

After opening up preorders for the iPhone 5c through its online stores and a number of carrier and retail partners three days ago, Apple is beginning to sell out of several models and continuing to push back shipping times.

We reported last week that the unlocked 16GB version of the yellow iPhone 5c was the first to sellout with shipping times slipping to September 25, and all models of the new colourful iPhone were shipping in 1-2 weeks through Apple’s Hong Kong website. Today shipping times on several models in the U.S. have slipped from the expected Sept 20 release date to as late as October 4th.
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