The Apple Watch is set to arrive very soon, with its official stores beginning a retail try-on period at the end of this week. In this time, Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent out a memo to his staff, mostly as a pep talk to boost morale ahead of the big event; but also to inform them that there is a 50-percent discount on the wearable for anyone one the Apple payroll.
This discount only applies to the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport, although there is also a (comparatively) minor discount of US$550-off (about RM1996) on the gold variant of the Apple Watch Edition. Apple has been known to be relatively generous to its workers with new technology, as it had originally also supplied the iPhone to a large portion of its workforce for free.
The special Employee Purchase Plan will begin in the nine launch countries, and will be expanded over time to the other regions. There is, however, a time limit on the offer, as Apple employees only have 90-days from the launch of Apple’s first wearable to cash in and buy the Apple Watch. After that, they will have to pay full price just like the rest of us.
Cook’s memo also pointed out that there has been a large influx of Apple Watch apps over the last four days, which is about the length of time the company has been taking submissions. Over a thousand apps are being reviewed by Apple, although there really is no way of telling how many of these will make it through the process. Apple’s stringent quality control measures have traditionally been opaque when it comes to dealing with third party apps.
It is difficult to imagine the Apple Watch doing anything other than being a massive success, especially with the amount of hype surrounding the wearable these days. With any luck, it will also result in other wearables coming into their own; and make smartwatches useful enough to be worn.
[Source: 9to5mac]
