Apple Watch available in seven new countries today; three more to get the device on July 17th

The Apple Watch continues its march across the globe, with seven new countries launching the smartwatch today. Those new locations include Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan. In addition, Apple's Dutch, Swedish and Thai websites announced today that the Apple Watch will become available in the Netherlands, Sweden and Thailand on July 17th.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, developers are more interested in writing apps for the Apple Watch than they were in writing for the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad at the same stage in all three products' lives. A big change in how apps are handled on the timepiece will take place this fall with the rollout of watchOS 2. Apps for the Apple Watch currently are stored on the iPhone that is paired with it, and streamed to the timepiece when needed. With watchOS 2 the device will be able to run native apps on its own, making for a faster and smoother experience.

While Apple has yet to release official sales figures, it is estimated by those in the business that the Apple Watch has sold 2.79 million units. Fewer than 20% have ordered additional bands at the time that they purchased their watch. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo cited lagging demand for the product last month, when he said that Apple would ship less than 15 million smartwatches this year. Kuo originally forecast that 20 million to 30 million units would be delivered by Apple in 2015.

source: AppleInsider