Last Friday, Apple opened pre-orders for the cellular Apple Watch in New Zealand. Now, the first orders are arriving to customers and support is rolling out from New Zealand carrier Spark.
As detailed by The New Zealand Herald, Apple is selling the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE in New Zealand for NZ$549 and the Apple Watch Series 5 with LTE for NZ$929.
Spark is the only carrier in New Zealand to support the Apple Watch as of right now. For $12.99 per month, Spark customers can tap into their iPhone minutes and and texts, and get unlimited data on their Apple Watch. Much like many carriers in the United States originally did, Spark is also offering the first three months of service for free.
What about support from other carriers in New Zealand? In a statement, Vodafone NZ said that it is working to bring eSIM support to New Zealand, but it has nothing to announce just yet:
“We remain committed to delivering eSIM support on our network in the future however the roll-out in New Zealand has been delayed due to a range of factors. Our team is working on a release as soon as possible, but we are unable to confirm a date just yet,” a Vodafone NZ spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for 2degrees, another carrier in New Zealand, echoed that statement:
“We are looking at how we might bring this technology to our customers. At this stage, we can’t say when that will be.”
Nonetheless, if you live in New Zealand and use Spark as your carrier, this marks the first time that you’ve been able to purchase the Apple Watch with cellular connectivity. Even though support is limited to one carrier, it’s still big news.
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