Most Watch orders now ship in June; MacBook pushed out 4-6 weeks Shipping times for Apple’s Watch and new MacBook stretched into the future over the weekend, with most of the former now showing “June” and the latter backordered four to six weeks. According to Apple’s online store, all models of the Sport — Apple’s lowest-price wearable, which starts at $349 — showed the wide window of June as the ship date. All the 42mm Watch models, the collection defined by a stainless steel case — were also backordered to the same month, although most of the smaller 38mm choices had “4-6 weeks” as the ship timetable. The Watch sold out almost instantly early Friday when the device went on sale, with even immediate orders pegged to ship in four to six weeks. Apple is selling the Watch only through its online stores for Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. The very earliest orders will presumably start shipping on April 24. Meanwhile, the new MacBook — a 12-in. Retina-equipped, ultra-light notebook that starts at $1,299 — went from ship dates of just one to three business days (for the silver and space-gray tints) and three to four weeks (gold) on Friday, to four to six weeks across the board by Saturday morning. Potential buyers of the MacBook have also been pushed by Apple to order online. Checks today of Apple retail stores in the Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Portland metro areas again failed to find any that had the new notebook in stock and available for immediate pickup after placing an online order. The emphasis on online ordering is new for Apple. Last week, the company’s head of retail and online sales reportedly acknowledged that “this is a significant change in mindset” while telling employees to inform customers that “we have more availability online.” Backorders are nothing new to Apple. In September, the iPhone 6 Plus slipped to a ship date of three to four weeks almost as soon as the first orders were filed. At the debut of Mac Pro sales in mid-December 2013, Apple instantly shoved the dark tower-style desktop to February 2014 delivery, then later pushed orders another two months down the road. Apple didn’t match supply with demand for the Mac Pro until six months after the expensive computer — it starts at $2,999 — went on sale. Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3566 for the Beta Channel, released on April 26, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 26, 2024 251 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news Dropbox adds end-to-end encryption for team folders Dropbox this week unveiled a range of features, including security updates and key management, and the ability to co-edit Microsoft 365 documents from within the file-sharing app. By Matthew Finnegan Apr 26, 2024 3 mins Cloud Storage Collaboration Software Productivity Software feature Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 15 Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2024's Android 15 (beta) release. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 23 mins Small and Medium Business Smartphones Android news analysis The unspoken obnoxiousness of Google's Gemini improvements Google's Gemini chatbot is seeing all sorts of upgrades on Android this week, but those advancements reveal a darker underlying reality. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 12 mins Google Assistant Google Android Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe