TAIPEI, Taiwan — Apple’s first smartwatch, Apple Watch finally hit the Taiwan market on June 26, because of the limited supply it is probably going to sell out on its launch day. Further, the watch was on sale at 11 a.m. at ten select Apple-authorized retailers in Taipei, New Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, but the total number of initially available units was estimated at only 1,000.
Reportedly, Apple is touting thousands of apps in order to give prospective buyers plenty of reasons to buy the watch. There are already 3,500 apps for the watch, Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the company’s earnings conference call in April.
“To give you a comparison, when we launched the iPhone, we had about 500 apps that were ready. When we launched iPad, we had about a thousand,” Tim Cook said at the time.
Furthermore, the watch was launched in Taiwan at a starting price of NT$11,500 (US$371) for the plastic Apple Watch Sport and NT$17,900 for the steel-cased Apple Watch.
However, the premium Apple Watch Edition, crafted from custom rose or yellow 18-karat gold, is available only at the Studio A store in the Taipei 101 Mall and carries a price tag of NT$340,000 to NT$570,000.
Meanwhile, there are many Taiwanese companies behind the watch’s supply chain, including Quanta Computer, Kinsus Interconnect Technology, TSMC, Advanced-Connectech Inc., to name a few.
