This headline is one of those questions that answers itself. “The Apple Watch: Is it a gadget or a fashion statement?” I’m fond of pointing out that the correlation between the mobility of an Apple product and its popularity. The great innovation of the iPod was not the technology. It was the marketing. Having an iPod made you hip, youthful and edgy. Don Imus spent a year asking every guest what they had on their iPod as part of his act. The iPod quickly became a fashion statement.

Apple CEO Tim Cook summed up the problem during a conversation with sales staff at a London Apple Store: “We’ve never sold anything as a company that people could try on before.”

With the expected launch next month of the Apple Watch, the company’s first new product in five years, Apple will be stepping into new territory.

To conquer the marketplace, the watch will have to appeal not only as a gadget but as a fashion statement, a fact tacitly acknowledged by Apple’s decision to launch its advertising campaign with a 12-page insert in the March issue of Vogue.

The company isn’t talking about plans for marketing the Apple Watch in advance of it’s much-touted “Spring Forward” event on Monday, but it clearly intends to keep a tight grip on initial sales and distribution, leaving many retailers guessing about when — or if — they’ll be able to sell it.

Sources with direct knowledge of the matter said that Best Buy Co Inc, one of the largest sellers of Apple products, may not get the watch at launch time, though the company wouldn’t comment on the situation.

Other large retailers, including Macy’s, Saks 5th Avenue, Bloomingdales and Barney’s said they had no immediate plans to carry the watch. Target and Nordstrom,along with all the major phone carriers, declined to comment on their plans, though a source with knowledge of the situation said Nordstrom has engaged in discussions with Apple.

“Apple is being cautious. There are too many unknowns around how this product will perform,” said Van Baker, research vice-president, technology research firm Gartner Inc.

Another one of my themes is the fact that the big returns from the communications revolution have been realized. What’s left is marginal stuff like making the phone smaller or giving it a snazzier exterior. Turning it into a watch is another example. This is a device with no practical application so it has to be a fashion item. Apple is about to become ironic.

The reports I’ve read suggest the response may not be as expected. Even diehard Apple users have to be wondering why they need a smart watch. Most probably gave up wearing a watch a long time ago. Putting their current apps on a watch makes little sense. Apple has been humping this thing as a fitness tool, but that space is pretty crowded. A bunch of these things that sync with cloud apps to track anything you want to track already exist and are popular. All of which is a waste of time, by the way. Unless you’re an elite professional athlete, you have no need for these things, but for $100 they are fine toys.

That leaves fashion statement.