From this morning’s Apple Press Release:

Apple Watch™, Apple’s most personal device yet, will be available for preview and pre-order on Friday, April 10. Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US can try on and experience Apple Watch at their local Apple Store® or at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Isetan in Tokyo, Selfridges in London, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in Japan and China. Customers can pre-order their Apple Watch through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com) beginning April 10 at 12:01 a.m. PDT for delivery beginning April 24.

“We are excited to welcome customers tomorrow and introduce them to Apple Watch, our most personal device yet. Based on the tremendous interest from people visiting our stores, as well as the number of customers who have gone to the Apple Online Store to mark their favorite Apple Watch ahead of availability, we expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch,” said Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores. “To provide the best experience and selection to as many customers as we can, we will be taking orders for Apple Watch exclusively online during the initial launch period.”

Apple is making it clear that they are driving all Apple Watch sales on line. To me, this sounds like a strategy to reduce traffic at the stores tomorrow or, at the very least, to improve efficiency by taking the ordering process out of the loop at the stores, let the staff focus specifically on previewing the Apple Watch.

That said, if you go into an Apple Store and try one on, my guess is that there will be some way for you to place a pre-order. I can’t imagine Apple will want to allow a single potential sale to go unclosed.

Starting Friday, customers can try on Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport or Apple Watch Edition* to find the model with the size, finish and band to best fit their personal preference and style. Everyone visiting an Apple Store will be able to view all three collections and get hands on with Apple Watch Demo to browse and edit different watch faces, and learn about Apple Watch’s health and fitness features, Digital Touch, Siri®, Apple Pay™** and more. Pre-orders begin April 10 at 12:01 a.m. PDT through the Apple Online Store, the Apple Store app for iPhone® and iPad®, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in China and Japan. Customers who pre-order their Apple Watch can have it shipped for delivery beginning April 24. All Apple Watch customers will be offered Personal Setup, online or in-store, to pair their Apple Watch with their iPhone. New owners will also learn how to personalize Apple Watch by selecting a watch face, deciding which notifications to receive, setting up the Activity app, and receive an introduction to Apple Pay** and the Apple Watch App Store™.

Beginning April 24, Apple Watch will also be available at boutiques in major cities including colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Maxfield in Los Angeles and The Corner in Berlin, and select Apple Authorized Resellers in China and Japan.

Tomorrow is a big day for Apple.