Apple’s latest wish-list gadget, the Apple Watch, goes on sale in eight countries today - but this time, there’s no point in camping out outside the company’s stores.

The wearable device, a timepiece-style iPhone add-on, will be sold by Apple only in its online store through at least May, Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts said in a memo last week.

The online sales will begin today in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Britain and the United States.

A few selected fashion boutiques in Tokyo, London, Paris, Berlin and Milan will also stock a few hundred of the accessories for sale in person, according to the New York Times.

Apple’s first new product category since 2010's iPad sold out for pre-orders within hours of its soft launch April 10. Market research firm Slice Intelligence estimated 957,000 people pre-ordered the device in one day in the US alone.

Market analysts think the Watch could quickly dominate sales in the fledgling wearable device market, although questions remain about what, exactly, the device is for.

Tethered to an iPhone, it can do many of the things an iPhone can do: make calls, get messages, surf the web and take dictation. On its own, it’s a sophisticated wrist-worn health monitor. And, of course, it tells the time.

But Apple is banking on the gadget’s beauty as much as its brains, marketing it as a fashion accessory with a luxury price tag. The basic Sport model costs 399 euro in the European countries and US$349 in the US, while the price tag for the gold Edition model - with the same technology - starts at 11,000 euro and US$10,000.

A select few didn’t have to wait for their watches. Music stars Beyonce, Drake, Pharrell Williams and Katy Perry and fashion mavens Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld are among those who have been spotted wearing - if not using - the devices.

- dpa