Apple Seen Selling 1 Mln. Apple Watches On First Weekend

(RTTNews) - Apple Watch is expected to surpass sales of 1 million units in the first weekend after its launch on April 24, CNET said, quoting an analyst at Piper Jaffray.

The analyst, Gene Munster, also projects Apple Watch to record 300,000 pre-orders in the first 24 hours. Pre-orders start April 10.

Apple Watch comes in three versions: Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch, and the 18-karat-gold Apple Watch Edition.

The device starts at a price of $349 for the Sport model, while the high-end Apple Watch Edition will cost $17,000. Apple Watch works with the iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

It remains to be seen how successful Apple Watch will be. Smartwatches have not created the expected buzz as can be seen from the devices sold by a range of companies including Samsung and Motorola.

A craze for Apple Watch may catapult the smartwatch industry into a lucrative market, while a not-so-impressive response for the Apple device may weigh on the industry.

Munster believes Apple Watch sales will hit 8 million units in 2015, while research firm CCS Insight had forecast sales of 20 million.

Competition is rife. Google Inc (GOOG, GOOGL) has tied up with Intel Corp (INTC) and Swiss luxury watch brand Tag Heuer to launch an Android Wear-based smartwatch later in the year. Another Swiss watchmaker, Swatch Group, is planning to launch its own smartwatch in the coming months.