At long last the Apple Watch is coming to South Africa. The Core Group has confirmed it will begin selling the device locally on 23 October. Consumers who want one can register their interest on the MyiStore website’s dedicated Apple Watch page.
The South African section of Apple’s global website began listing the Apple Watch, alongside information on the recently updated operating system that powers it, called watchOS 2 earlier today.
Announced in September 2014, the Apple Watch went on sale in select international markets in April 2015. To date, South Africans wanting to get one on their wrists have either had to buy it at decidedly inflated prices from online retailers who import it or buy one abroad and bring it back with them.
Last month, Discovery CEO Adrian Gore mentioned in an interview with Bruce Whitfield on talk radio station 702 that the health insurer was looking at offering new products that collected data from Apple’s wearable, which includes a heart-rate monitor and tracks the wearer’s activity. However, the Core Group, which imports and distributes Apple’s products in South Africa, said it wasn’t able to comment on when the smartwatch would land on local shores.
Apple’s been tight-lipped about how many Apple Watches its actually sold since launch with analysts speculating wildly about the numbers. Apple may or may not have sold as many of the devices as it would’ve liked to, but as a new product category and one that’s unlikely to go away any time soon we’re not so sure it matters. Apple’s playing the long game with its wearable, and its got the deepest pockets of any tech company on earth.
Core has yet to confirm local pricing or which of the three models of Apple Watch available internationally it will carry. We’ll be sure to update you with this information as soon as we have it.
[UPDATE: Core has released pricing for the Apple Watch, details of which follows below. It’s also announced the devices will be available from iStores, Digicape and Incredible Connection. South African consumers will be able to buy the Apple Watch Sport or Apple Watch, but the top tier Apple Watch Edition won’t be offered.]
