New Zealand gets Apple Watch release date

New Zealanders will be able to order an Apple Watch after 7.01am on July 31 – or at least according to the company's Apple Store app (see screen shot at right; Apple's website has yet to list a date and Apple has yet to respond to NBR's query).

The date comes as US business media claim Apple Watch sales have tailed off 90% since launch and are now as "few" as 10,000 a day. Apple has made no comment but it's unusual for the company not to have released some kind of brag statement about early sales by the three-month mark.

Check out NBR's quick summary of the first wave of Watch reviews here. It was compiled waaaay back in April to coincide with the US release.

Since that time there have been a wave of "my first month with Apple watch style pieces." A number say good but not good enough. One of the most thoughtful is by veteran reviewer Walter Mossberg, who finds plenty of Version 1.0 issues, but ultimately decides he'll probably buy one.

I've only played with an Apple's timepiece once, briefly, as Serko (the travel software people, not the prison operator) showed off its Watch app. While Serko's app seemed nifty, in general the Watch didn't wow. It seems thicker in person than in photos, and it was sometimes slow or finicky to get back to its main screen. Doing the thing where you can control an iPhone camera by remote just wouldn't work at all. 

My main issues remain the battery life (less than a day), and whether a gadget rather than jewellery on your wrist is a fashion step too far, notwithstanding Apple's cool in other areas (sure the company has put out $10,000+ versions that wow but what will they be worth this time next year as Apple Watch 2.0 arrives). 

I still can't wait to get my hands on a review unit but I suspect I won't spend my own money until Version 2.0 arrives.