Apple Watch Sells… But Who’s Buying?

Apple Watch 20150424

Apple Watch pre-order started at roughly 12:01 a.m. on April 10, 2015. Within the first minute, some models of Apple Watch shipping time slipped to 4-6 weeks. John Gruber says:

I get the feeling supply is low and demand is high.

There sure are a lot of interest in the Apple Watch. Apple CEO, Tim Cook says that the responses have been “extraordinary”. Apple Watch sells, but who’s buying?

John Gruber said in his review:

In short, I think Apple Watch might be a tougher sell to current watch wearers than non-watch wearers. Non-watch wearers have an open wrist, and if they cared about the glance-able convenience of an always-visible watch dial, they would be wearing a traditional watch already. Watch wearers, on the other hand, already have something on their wrist that Apple Watch needs to replace, and the reason they already have a watch on their wrist is that they care about telling time at a glance — something Apple Watch is (and only ever will be, I suspect) merely OK at, not great at.

The last time I wore a watch was back in college. I stopped wearing it when the glass face cracked for some unknown reasons. I have pre-ordered an Apple Watch Sport, 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band. At this point in time, I do not know if I would wear the Apple Watch or any watches after the learning period. I had been getting a lot of questions from friends and acquaintances if Apple Watch is for them. My answer is always “it’s not for you.”

The other question I get a lot is if they should wait for the next version of Apple Watch because some reviews say “skip Apple watch this time, because the next one will be better.”

II would be really worried if the next version of Apple Watch would be worse that the current model.

If you feel like getting an Apple Watch now, then get it. Well, you have to wait until June for the earliest delivery.

Apple Watch Pre-Order Begins

Apple Watch Pre-Order 20150410

Apple Watch Pre-order started three minutes after midnight. Most Apple Watch models are seeing delivery dates starting at April 24, 2015. The Apple Watch Edition will ship starting as early as May, 2014.

Within the first 10 minutes of pre-order, most Apple Watch model is quoted to ship within 4-6 weeks.

I pre-ordered an Apple Watch Sport 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band as soon as the Apple Store went online. I was quoted May 13 – May 27 Delivery time.

Apple Watch Sport Pre-Order Spay Gray 4-6 Weeks

Shortly After, shipping time for Apple Watch Sport 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band slipped to June, 2015.

AppleCare+ for Apple Watch varies by the collections.

  • AppleCare+ for Apple Watch Sport: $49
  • AppleCare+ for Apple Watch: $69
  • AppleCare+ for Apple Watch Edition: $1,500

As of 12:28 a.m., Apple Watch Edition 42mm 18-Karat Yellow Gold Case with Midnight Blue Classic Buckle shipping time slipped to August, 2015.

Apple Watch Edition Ships August 2015

Get Ready to Pre-Order Apple Watch

Apple Store Offline Apple Watch Pre-Order

Apple Store went offline ahead of Apple Watch Pre-Order, which starts at 12:01 a.m. on April 10, 2015.

I asked John Gruber which Apple Watch he would buy with his own cash. Gruber said he would get the Space Black Stainless Steel Case with Space Black Link Bracelet Apple Watch. Gruber also said that the Apple Watch Sport models are “tremendous value”.

Gruber spent a week or so using an Apple Watch.

Personally I like the Space Black Stainless Steel Case with Space Black Link Bracelet Apple Watch too. The price tag is one thing that prevent me from buying one. I think I’m gonna get Space Gray Aluminum Apple Watch Sport, for science.

I have not worn any watches for 20 years.

DNS Routing Problem on Wednesday, March 25, 2015.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, several DNS servers were having trouble resolving domain names. I first noticed this when visiting Daring Fireball. I was not able to load the site on my iPhone, which is on T-Mobile network. By 4:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, I was still unable to access Daring Fireball on my iPhone. I took the screenshot and tweeted:

If I had to guess, it might be DNS issue with T-Mobile. 

DaringFireball T-Mobile DNS

Two hours later I noticed that I still couldn’t access Daring Fireball. This time I was using the office network; connected through AT&T DSL. We could only get AT&T in this particular area. Then I tweeted to John Gruber:

It seems  is still down. 

Within 3 minutes, Gruber replied:

 No, my site is up. There are internet-wide routing problems, alas: 

Daring Fireball is still down

When I arrived at a colleague’s residence, I was able to to load Daring Fireball site through Verizon FiOS.

Later on, Ben Drago replied:

 It looks like Google’s DNS servers are not resolving . Working OK w/ 

Ben Drago Google DNS has a problem

I tested a few DNS servers and some of them were having the same issues with Google DNS.

At the time of this post, the issue persists on some DNS servers.

Apple “Spring Forward” Special Event

Apple March 2015 Spring Forward

Apple will be streaming the “Spring Forward” event live at Apple.com/live at 10:00 a.m. from Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. Not sure if you had to brush up on your Mandarin or Mandolin.

As usual, some sites will be covering the event live. Links will be added and updated.

Apple Events channel appears on Apple TV.

Apple Special Event Live March 09 2015 Apple TV Apple Events March 09 2015 Apple TV

Tim Cook (@tim_cooktweets:

Got some extra rest for today’s event. Slept in ’til 4:30.

What time does he usually wake up?

Tim Cook Tweet Marc 09 2015 Wake Up at 0430

Apple Store goes into maintenance mode ahead of the event.

Apple Store March 09 2015

On The Eve of Apple Watch Event

Apple-Watch-Home-Screen

Sunday, March 8 marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time in some regions of the world. Those in the Northern Hemisphere remind themselves to “Spring Forward”, setting up the clocks one hour ahead before going to bed on Saturday night.

On Monday, March 9, 2015, Apple will be holding an event aptly named “Spring Forward”; an obvious reference of Time. Apple will largely be talking about its next product, the Apple Watch.

Apple March 2015 Spring Forward

The “Spring Forward” event will be streamed live on March 9, 2015 at 10 a.m. PDT.

There are many speculations and supposed leaks about the Apple Watch announcements. Some are obvious and some are pure weapons-grade Bolognium.

John Gruber, who would be unable to attend the event, shared his thoughts (1) (2) on the Apple Watch on Daring Fireball. Well thought out and logical.

Based on off-the-records conversations with a spouse of a key Apple employee, there are a few “surprises” with regards to the “Spring Forward” event.

My own thought:

There are many reasons why I did not wear watches for years. One of them happened during my high school years. I shortly wore wristwatch in college, due to necessity. After the glass broke, I stopped wearing it. It has been quite some times.

I am interested in Apple Watch because I found several use case. I don’t want anyone to see that I am wearing any watches, let alone the Apple Watch. I might have to wear long sleeve shirts almost all the time now. Yeah, I’m going to get one, most likely the Apple Watch Sport.

All will be revealed on Monday, March 9, 2015.

Target Ticket Shuts Down

Target Ticket Shuts Down

It only took a little over 18 months and Target Ticket is shutting down its service; effective March 7, 2015.

Target Ticket customers are eligible to migrate their account to CinemaNow and Disney Movies Anywhere.

I had “Guardians of the Galaxy” on Target Ticket, and it was not eligible for transfer to CinemaNow. That’s because it would be migrated to Disney Movies Anywhere; which I already have by redeeming one code in two places.

Despite of my poor initial impression of UltraViolet, they have done a great job keeping the movies I purchased (through redemption code) accessible in many places.