Watch this - it's a personal Apple

The watch went on sale overseas in April, advertised as Apple's "most personal device yet". Photo / Getty Images

A phone on your wrist ... but an expert has doubts.

It is being touted as Apple's most personal device yet - and now it's officially available in New Zealand.

The Apple Watch will go on sale at three Noel Leeming outlets - in Queen St and Wairau Park, in Auckland, and Tory St in Wellington - this morning.

Parallel Imported has been selling the item online for several weeks, but this will be New Zealanders' first chance to go into a store and inspect the device.

The Apple website shows a price of $599 for the sports version of the watch - and $21,000 for the rose gold-cased version.

The watch went on sale overseas in April, advertised as Apple's "most personal device yet".

But whether there will be much appetite for the watch in New Zealand is another story. One expert says it will probably attract only "early adopters" and executives.

Technology commentator Peter Griffin said with an entry-level price of $599, the gadget was expensive.

"There's good scope for bundling deals with iPhones and other Apple products. But it is a first-generation model and experience with other smart watches shows that innovation progresses rapidly.

"I see it remaining the domain of executives and early adopters for the time being. By the time consumers really warm to this thing, a couple of generations of watches will have passed and hopefully the price will come down."

The Apple device has a rectangular touch-screen face, sensors to detect pulse and heart rates and other health-related features.

Through apps, the user can control the phone's music and camera and answer calls.

But it must be paired with an iPhone to function properly.

A spokesman for Auckland mobile apps developer, Sush Mobile, said the company had seen a lot of interest from existing Apple customers.

"It's a first-generation product," said Derrick Olivier. "It's still too early to say whether it will succeed or not. There's already a few in the office sporting the Apple bling and they're mostly effervescent about it.

"But these are gadget geeks we're talking about."

Despite the hype, last month it was announced that sales for the product had plummeted 90 per cent.

But Apple's chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, said this week the company had beaten its internal expectations for the watch and the number sold in the first nine weeks was greater than the number of iPhones and iPads sold in the same time when they were new.

When: On sale in NZ today, from 8am.

Where: Available at three Noel Leeming stores: 126 Queen St, central Auckland, 3-5 Croftfield Lane, Wairau Park, 133-139 Tory St, Wellington. All stores open 8am-7pm.

What: Has to be linked with an iPhone to work properly. Can control apps linked to your phone, including music and photos. Detects heart and pulse rate.