Apple ‘Working Hard’ To Catch Up With Apple Watch Demand

Apple is “working very, very hard” to meet the strong demand for Apple Watch, Apple CFO Luca Maestri told Bloomberg Businessweek in the wake of the company’s earnings call today. Apple is facing demand that it hopes to largely catch up with by the end of June, according to the executive.

“It’s been really great to see the reaction of customers since their watches started arriving beginning Friday morning,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on today’s earnings call. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” he added, citing social media reaction.

This product launch has been unusual in a number of ways, but one of the most significant was the unavailability of Apple Watch units in retail stores at launch. Customers only had the option to pre-order the devices online initially, and while they could schedule appointments to try them on in retail locations, they could not actually make a purchase on the spot and walk away with product.

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While Apple shipment windows for devices already ordered appear to be improving, the ship times anticipated on the store site currently still show long wait times. There’s also some evidence to suggest that band options are determining the shipment variance from model to model.

“Right now, demand is greater than supply, so we’re working hard to remedy that,” Cook said on the call. “We were able to ship more Watches during this past weekend than we had anticipated,” he added, noting that they’re going to continue doing that, including sending more units out today.

“Sometime in late June, we anticipate being in a position that we could begin to sell the Apple Watch in additional countries,” he said.