When is the Apple Watch release date?

UPDATE 3: CEO Tim Cook announced during the Spring Forward event that the Apple Watch will ship on April 24th. It will be available for preorder and preview on the 10th.

UPDATE 2: Apple CEO Tim Cook announced during a quarterly earnings call that the Apple Watch was on schedule to ship in April. He did not give a specific date.

UPDATE: The Apple Watch will be released "early 2015".

Speculation over the iWatch launch date has been rampant and, until recently, it was thought that it would launch sometime in October 2014. Over the past month there have been many rumors of production delays due to manufacturing difficulties.

Recent analysis suggests the iWatch will launch in early 2015. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, who has made accurate predictions regarding Apple products in the past, writes:

"We reiterate our view that iWatch, as compared to existing products, and as Apple’s (US) first attempt at a wearable device, represents a much higher level of difficulty for the company as regards component and system design, manufacturing and integration between hardware and software... While we are positive on iWatch and believe that the advantages of the design and business model behind it are difficult to copy, we think, given the aforementioned challenges, that the launch could be postponed to 2015."

Stay tuned, as we will be updating this faq as more information comes to light.