While the marketplace ponders just what kind of impact Apple’s new smart watch will have on the company – including on revenue – it appears that a stock shortage is causing a sense of anticipation from end users around the world.“The launch of the Apple smart watch – even if it does not generate a huge amount of revenue – again sets Apple up as an iconic company producing iconic products,” says Christopher Riley, CEO of leading notebook and accessories company, The Notebook Company.

Meanwhile one industry watcher has upped its figures with regards to the smart watch’s potential revenue.
Said Daniel Ives from FBR Capital Markets, in a note to investors: “We are raising our Apple Watch shipment estimates for 2015 from 17-million units to 20-million units, as we estimate sales of over two million units during the pre-sales phase alone, and believe watch revenues could contribute as much as 8% of [Apple’s] total revenue in 2017.”

“If this is true, it is not an insignificant revenue stream for Apple. But what it does do – even if you don’t consider the revenue – is set them apart from many other companies as a pioneer of snazzy and trendy products. Apple loyalists are naturally going to love the smart watch. The watch’s release again represents a chance for Apple to change the world, again, with an industry-defining product.”

But, when all is said and done, it is the scarcity of stock itself that is arguably the most alluring aspect of the new Apple smart watch. End users want it – it would seem – but many are just going to have to wait.

“This places the product on a pedestal – on an ‘I want one of those’ list – with the end result being that sales generated by the smart watch might, at the end of the day, even surpass some industry estimates of 8%,” says Riley.

As things stand now, the company doesn’t yet have enough stock to enable its stores to sell the smart watch – and many shoppers who tried to pre-order the device online in the initial hours after it went on sale have been told that they will have to wait until May or June for their deliveries.

This is acting to create a pent-up demand, he concludes.