Best Buy is getting the Apple Watch in August

That makes it the first non-Apple retailer to be able to sell the device

The Apple Watch is probably the most exciting new device to come out in a good long while. Even before the thing went on sale it was expected to do so well that it was going to lift the entire wearables space up into the stratosphere. 

Has it really done that well so far? Apple is keeping mum on the actually numbers, but either way you can bet that retailers cannot wait to get their hands on the things.

Since its debut in April, the Apple Watch has only been available for sale from Apple, either on its website or in its retail stores. That is going to change soon, though, as Best Buy has announced that, beginning next month, it will become the first retailer, outside of the Apple system, to be able to sell the device.

Starting on August 7, a week frm Friday, the Apple Watch will begin to arrive in more than 100 Best Buy stores. Another 200 of its stores will have the Apple Watch in time for holiday shopping (Did anyone else just have a mini heart attack when they realized that Christmas is only five months from now?)

Customers will be able to see, try and buy 16 Apple Watch models, including Sport and Watch models in both 38mm and 42mm sizes, and nearly 50 accessories, including watch bands, screen shields, stands and chargers.

“The Apple Watch is a big addition to our stores and website, and we know our customers want it,” Jason Bonfig, senior category officer at Best Buy, said in a statement. “We are excited to bring the Apple Watch to more consumers, especially with the holidays coming up.”

While Best Buy certainly seems excited to get their hands on the Apple Watch, just how well the devices are selling remains an open question.

In its third quarter earnings report, released last week, Apple declined to give out any specific numbers, simply calling it a "successful launch," and "a great start."

Following the report, Apple CEO TIm Cook said i a conference call that "sales of the Watch did exceed our expectations and they did so despite supply still trailing demand at the end of the quarter."

"And to give you a little additional insight, through the end of the quarter, in fact the Apple Watch sell-through was higher than the comparable launch periods of the original iPhone or the original iPad. And we were able to do that with having only 680 points of sale," he said.

"And as you probably know, as I had reviewed earlier, the online sales were so great at the beginning, we were not able to feed inventory to our stores until mid-June."

The actual locations of the Best Buy stores that will be selling the Apple Watch was not revealed, but it will also be available on BestBuy.com. So if, for some reason, you really want an Apple Watch, but you, for some strange reason, haven't gone onto Apple's website, or into one of its stores to get one, uh... now you can get it somewhere else. 

(Image source: apple.com)