The best buy, or at least the most convenient, may be found at Target, for consumers looking to wrap an Apple Watch around their wrists or slap one in a gift box this holiday shopping season.
Target announced on Friday, Oct. 2, the arrival of Apple Watch and Watch accessories at some of its stores this week, and starting on Oct. 25, all of its stores will carry Apple's smartwatch.
"Guests can choose from 20 models-in both 38 mm and 42 mm sizes-including beautiful space gray and rose gold colors. Select models and bands will be available at all Target stores, and an expanded assortment of Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch will be available on Target.com," says Target.
Target will offer Apple Watches, in store and online, that fall in the $349 to $599 price range.
The expansion into Target stores could give the Apple Watch a noticeable bump through the holiday season, restoring the smartwatch's momentum as Apple works on a followup.
It's unclear just how well the Apple Watch is doing in terms of sales, as Apple tends to avoid sharing specifics on shipments and generally only reports on products or services when they smash records.
The reports have been mixed, with some analysts finding bright spots and other forecasting hard times. However, one particularly intriguing report from July indicated that Apple's smartwatch was under performing so much so that Taiwan's ASE (Advanced Semiconductor Engineering) didn't meet the production volume needed to break even, reported Mark Li, an analyst for Bernstein Research.
"The shortfall of Apple Watch is a disappointment," Li stated. "We came in with a low expectation but below breakeven still surprised us."
After the worrying July report, IDC Research placed the Apple Watch in second place, behind FitBit, in the market for wearable tech. The IDC report estimated that Apple shipped about 3.6 million Apple Watches in the second quarter, behind FitBit's 4.4 million units moved.
That doesn't mean the momentum of demand held its pace into the third quarter, which is when ASE reported the slump.
