Apple Orders 5 Million Apple Watch Units For First Round of Sales

Apple is preparing five million Apple Watch units for the first round of sales, set to start on April in North America, Europe and some South-East Asian markets.

The order of units reportedly includes 2.5 million Apple Watch Sport units, 1.6 million original units and 900,000 Apple Watch Edition units.

It is quite curious that Apple thinks one fifth of its sales will be for the $4,000-$5,000 (£2,500-£3,200) 18-karat gold watch, considering the huge price differential.

Apple is clearly focused on winning over people with more money than sense, buyers who are likely to spend that kind of money on a regular watch in a heartbeat. These are the same people that continue to buy real gold iPhones, we suspect.

The prices for the other two models are more reasonable for the typical buyer, $349 (£226) for the Sport or $499 (£323) for the original model. The Sport will feature a plastic band and aluminium watch-face, while the original will feature a metal band and stainless steel watch-face.

Previous rumors claimed Apple was manufacturing up to 30 million units for 2015, but it looks like it has toned down expectations, at least for the first round of sales.

It should be noted that the Apple Watch will not be available in all regions in April, similar to the iPhone and iPad, Apple will bring them to the most popular regions first.

This is potentially the biggest launch ever at Apple, considering it is one of the first times a potentially huge project has been launched without the key figure Steve Jobs.

CEO Tim Cook has shown diligence in the past few years when it comes to bringing more profit to Apple, but in terms of a new market leader, this is his first challenge.