Following a handful of leaked images yesterday, TechCrunch has confirmed that Apple has launched an official Apple Watch magnetic charging dock today for $79.
German blogger Benjamin Scholtysik managed to get his hands on the official dock from the Apple Store in Berlin, but the accessory does not appear to be on the Apple Online Store or stocked at Apple Retail Stores in the United States yet.
The dock cost €89 in the Berlin Apple Store and allows users to charge the Apple Watch both flat and in Nightstand mode. The accessory also comes with a 2M lightning cable that attaches to the base of the dock to provide charge to the magnetic adapter at its center. Scholtysik posted an unboxing and impressions video of the dock on his YouTube channel (via 9to5Mac), showcasing the packaging of the accessory and detailing the way it transforms from a flat orientation into Nightstand mode.
It remains unclear when the new first-party product will make its way to the Apple Online Store and Apple Retail Stores in the U.S. and other countries. With the holiday shopping season kicking into high gear in just over a week, it makes sense for the company to add the accessory to its retail locations and online options in time for new Apple Watch owners this holiday.
Update: The Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Dock has appeared on Apple's website and is available for purchase right now for $79.00, with an estimated shipping date of Friday, November 20 at the fastest speed. Apple retail stores should be getting the new dock on the same day, according to the new page.
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Steve Jobs, 1995
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Plus I wish the screen would stay on in nightmode, I don't want to fumble to tap the watch.
With every day I'm more disgusted by the obvious greed of Apple. When I jumped into Apple ecosystem in 2007, I understood the products are a bit more expensive [than competition], but most likely worth it. But today everything they sell is so obviously and shamelessly overpriced, that it seems the millionaires/billionaires at Apple have lost any connection with reality and turned the brand in some sort of Vertu equivalent.
I'm at that point too. There's only so much koolaid one can drink. I do own the Watch and its alright. But their pricing on some of these products as of late are just insane. The Pro for example is ridiculous. I had it for 4 days and returned it. Great concept, but I just couldn't get around how they purposely gimped it in features. Then had the b@lls to charge the price they did and still not include the pencil and/or the keyboard. Which is almost a must to enjoy it the way it's meant to be. Don't get me wrong, I love my 6s+ and Air2, but I'm getting sick of their greed lately and milking product features for generations just because they can.