Code/red: Apple Wearable Won't Ship Until Next Year

// HAPPENING TODAY

• The 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters.
• Beloved cryptographer Hal Finney is being cryopreserved following his recent, tragic death from ALS.

Look Daddy! Santa Gave Me an iWatch Raincheck.

So that new wearable device Apple is introducing on September 9? It’s going to be a while before anyone is actually wearing it. Sources in position to know tell me it won’t arrive at market for a few months. “It’s not shipping anytime soon,” said one. So when does Apple plan to ship its eagerly anticipated wearable? That’s not clear, but my understanding is that we’re unlikely to see it at retail until after the holiday season — think early 2015. Disappointing news for anyone hoping to put the device in a stocking come Christmas, but not unprecedented. Remember, Apple didn’t ship the first iPhone until six months after its January unveiling. Which is not to say that the gap between announcement and ship date will be that long, just that it would be unwise to expect preorders for the device to begin on the Friday following its unveiling. Apple declined to comment.

Apple Barge Spotted Outside Flint Center

Apple hasn’t unveiled a major new product at the Flint Center since it debuted the Bondi Blue iMac there in 1998 — shortly after Steve Jobs returned to the company. Since that time it has held most product launches at smaller venues like the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the California Theatre in San Jose. So Apple’s return to Flint, the site of the 1984 reveal of the original Macintosh, suggests the company views its upcoming Sept. 9 special event as a company milestone. Lest there be any doubt of that, just take a look at the massive white structure it’s currently building alongside the Flint Center. As one construction worker on site told the Mercury News, “All I can say is this is one of the largest shows I’ve ever worked on, and I’ve worked on them for 30 years.”

Keep Your Day Job, John …

John Gbruber, Daring Fireball: “I’ve been working on a new joke — about NFC and a new secure enclave where you can store your credit cards, so you can pay for things at brick and mortar retail stores just by taking out your iPhone, but only if it’s one of the new iPhones — but no one seems to get my sense of humor. … Follow-up joke: It would be cool, and would make a lot of sense, if the new wearable thing had the same magic payment apparatus.”

Because Those Pink Mustaches Are Ridiculous

Farhad Manjoo, the New York Times: “Uber is not going after the best Lyft drivers and cars. It’s going after any Lyft driver with a car and a pulse. And that’s the problem: If Uber itself thinks almost any Lyft ride can be easily transformed into an Uber ride, why shouldn’t we just use Lyft?”

We Don’t Think She Looks Like Trevor Philips Either

Take Two Interactive: “Lindsay Lohan complains that her image and persona have been wrongfully used by Take-Two in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, but her claim is so legally meritless that it lacks any good-faith basis and can only have been filed for publicity purposes.”

Off Topic

James Brown’s Japanese Miso Soup Commercials and Everything Wrong With Toy Story In 10 Minutes Or Less.

Thanks for reading. Send tips, comments and Coolest Coolers to John@recode.net, @johnpaczkowski. Subscribe to the Code/red newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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