Lumoid to allow customers to rent Apple Watch before buying it

If you’re on the fence and hesitant about buying an Apple Watch, you might be able to rent one first.

A gadget rental outfit called Lumoid plans to rent Apple Watches as part of its wearable rental program for consumers, said, Aarthi Ramamurthy, the company’s founder and CEO.

Lumoid will roll out a waiting list on its website later this week for consumers looking to get their hands on the device when it begins shipping in April.

Although details about the Apple Watch are still emerging, pricing rumors have the watch retailing for between US$349 for the Sport model and US$5,000 for the gold edition.

“Before breaking the bank on the smartwatch, consumers should be able to try it out,” Ramamurthy said.

At present, Lumoid lets customers rent up to five wearable devices for a period of seven days. At the end of the week, if the customer decides not to make a purchase, they only pay $20. That fee, however, is waived if they decide to buy one of the brands they tested. Then Lumoid ships a new model of the chosen device to the customer.

The Apple Watch will be included in this program when it becomes available, Ramamurthy said. The price for renting a set of wearables that includes the Apple device, though, will likely be priced a little more than US$20, she said.

The San Francisco-based start-up, which is partly backed by Y-Combinator, also plans soon to include other new smart watches, as well, including Motorola’s Moto 360.

Lumoid, which launched in January 2014, originally only rented out photo and video gear, including professional cameras, GoPros and even drones. These devices can still be rented on the company’s site for a daily fee that varies based on the device.

The company, which currently only does business in the U.S., has had a few hundred orders for wearables on its site. And while the program is still in its infancy, about 48 percent of customers are buying one of the devices they tested, Ramamurthy said.

So, if you want to wear an Apple Watch for a weekend or give it a spin before forking over an appreciable amount of money, this might be the way to go.

We’ll have additional details on this as they become available.

Via CNBC