According to Angela Ahrendts, Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores, the Apple Watch will be launching in the Spring of 2015, which is later in the year that Apple has previously announced.
Ahrendts revealed the target launch date for Apple's much-anticipated smartwatch in a video message sent to retail employees, a transcript of which was acquired by Apple intelligence website 9to5Mac from one of the website's sources.
The transcript contained a portion wherein Ahrendts was urging employees in Apple's retail operations to conserve their energy for the upcoming major shopping seasons.
"We're going into the holidays, we'll go into Chinese New Year, and then we've got a new watch launch coming in the spring," Ahrendts said in the video message.
Apple has previously been saying that the Apple Watch will be released in early 2015, though no specific date or month has yet been revealed by the company. The expected launch window was stated when the device was unveiled in September and was listed on the company's website.
Spring, which begins on March 20 and extends until June, is much later than what most users have been anticipating. However, if the Apple Watch is released exactly in Spring, during the end of March, then the release date could still be stretched to be described as early 2015.
Last year, reports surfaced that Apple intended to release the smartwatch during the Fall season. However, challenges encountered in the device's engineering delayed its launch to next year.
Other reports also stated that Apple is partially blaming issues in the device's battery, with the company still working out some problems. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently revealed that users should expect to recharge the Apple Watch daily, especially with the expected amount of usage that the device will receive.
Cook, however, declined to specify a specific battery length expectation for the Apple Watch, saying that the company is still testing the smartwatch's battery life on standard usage activities.
In the video message that was sent out, Ahrendts praises Apple's retail employees for being "the best people in the world." She also wanted the employees to keep in mind that, despite the busy shopping seasons, they should make sure that every customer they interact with should walk away from the Apple Store feeling more positive compared to before they walked into the store.
