Apple announced its smartwatch on September 9, representing its first foray into the wearable technology market. But it will not be on the shelves until after the new year, missing the traditional Christmas buying rush.

The decision could hurt retailers, who rely on the bumper Christmas spending frenzy to hit their annual sales targets.

Experts have suggested Apple's strategy is deliberate and done in the hopes that consumers who were planning on buying a rival brand for Christmas will instead wait for Apple's version to be released.

Roy Morgan retail analyst Warren Reid said Apple consumers were among the most loyal and would wait for the Apple watch instead of buying another brand.

"The fact that iphone owners are considerably more loyal to not only the iPhone, but also other Apple products such as iPad will also carry over to other devices such as the impending Apple smartwatch," he said.

There are more than three million Australians aged 14 years and over who own both an Apple iPhone and iPad. Samsung handset and Samsung tablet penetration in the same group is about 684,000 Australians.

Reid said: "This will in turn likely mean iPhone owners and intenders will hold out for the Apple smartwatch, keeping all their devices in the Apple ecosystem."

Chris Davies, executive editor of UK publication SlashGear, wrote that  because no Apple watch was available, "people might avoid buying [rival brands] if they know it's coming".

"Announcing the iWatch but shipping in 2015 will probably work out. It's not like Apple risks existing product cannibalisation," he said.

He said brands that risked losing sales between now and Apple's release early next year include LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony.

Retailers are staying coy about the potential impact, although Ruslan Kogan, chief executive of electronics retailer Kogan.com, told Business Day: "We don't think the absence of the Apple watch during Christmas will impact sales.

"We have thousands of popular products and many smartwatches already available. Aussies love technology and are early adopters; they've been selling like hotcakes.

Dick Smith and Harvey Norman declined to comment.

In announcing the watch months before it would be on sale, Apple strayed from its traditional strategy of releasing the product soon after.

The new iPhone 6 and bigger iPhone 6 Plus were also unveiled at the annual summit, and unlike their wearable sidekick, was on sale two weeks afterwards.

Smart watches have been popular with athletes for some years but have only recently started making progress into becoming mainstream.

It is believed Apple's entry into the segment may cause short-term pain for rivals but will ultimately lead to the segment becoming more popular, similar to how its iPad led the way for other tablets to populate the segment.

The majority of smart watches provide heartrate, fitness or GPS capabilities, although a few already provide fully integrated systems, such as Samsung Galaxy Gear 2, which has phone, email and camera capabilities.