'Lego Dimensions' game from Warner Bros. to meld Batman, 'Lord of the Rings' and more

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment this fall is slated to launch "Lego Dimensions," a videogame that combines physical toy figurines and fuses together universes from multiple WB and Lego properties, including DC Comics' Batman, "The Lord of the Rings," "The Lego Movie, "The Wizard of Oz," Lego Ninjago, "Back to the Future" and others yet to be announced.

The game, set to launch Sept. 27, 2015, is developed by TT Games in partnership with Lego Group. "Lego Dimensions" will be available for Microsoft's Xbox One, Sony's PlayStation 4 and PS3, and Nintendo's Wii U.

With "Lego Dimensions," for the first time in a Lego videogame, characters from multiple entertainment franchises will join forces to battle in worlds outside of their own -- a concept borrowed from titles like Disney Infinity, the Mouse House's successful game.

"'Lego Dimensions' expands our Lego videogame franchise with a breakthrough, immersive interactive entertainment experience that will redefine the toys-to-life games category," Jeff Junge, Warner Bros. Entertainment's SVP for Lego and TT Games. "'Lego Dimensions' will bring fans innovative and joyful gameplay with an amazing mashup of huge brands in both the physical and digital worlds."

In addition to the game, the "Lego Dimensions" starter pack will include: the Lego Toy Pad, letting players transport special Lego minifigures and other Lego objects into the game; bricks to build the Lego Gateway; and three Lego minifigures: Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle from "The Lego Movie"; plus the Lego Batmobile.

The "Lego Dimensions" starter pack will be priced at $99.99; level packs will be listed at $29.99, with team packs at $24.99 and fun packs at $14.99 each.

Separately, WB Interactive last month announced plans for mobile game "Lego Batman: Beyond Gotham," also produced by TT Games, in which the Caped Crusader joins forces with superheroes of the DC Comics universe.

In addition to the three minifigures included in the starter pack, WB will sell additional expansion packs, which will provide new buildable characters, vehicles, tools and gadgets, as well as game content with mission-based levels and unique in-game abilities.

The expansion packs for "Lego Dimensions" to be available in 2015 include: a "Back to the Future" level pack with a Lego Marty McFly minifigure; a Lego Ninjago team pack with Kai and Cole minifigures; three Ninjago "fun packs" with Jay, Nya and Zane minifigures; two DC Comics fun packs with Wonder Woman and Cyborg minifigures; three "Lord of the Rings" packs with Gollum, Gimli and Legolas minifigures; four "Lego Movie" packs with Emmet, Bad Cop, Benny and Unikitty characters; and a "Wizard of Oz" pack with a Wicked Witch of the West minifigure.

"'Lego Dimensions' is unlike anything that we have ever done," commented Niels Jørgensen, VP of digital games for Lego. "It further extends the Lego play experience into the digital world with all of the characters, humor and action of Lego videogames now combined with the fun of Lego minifigure and model building."

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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GE pares off financial unit and returns to industrial roots

General Electric is leaving the lending business, a major source of both profit and risk, as it continues to whittle its focus down to an industrial core.

The company said Friday that it will sell most of its GE Capital assets over the next two years, shedding businesses in a sector where it has had a tough time generating acceptable returns. GE also plans to repurchase as much as $50 billion of its own stock.

Shares of GE climbed to their highest price in almost two years Friday after the company announced the buybacks and the return to a simpler focus that investors have favored.

In addition to the GE Capital sale, the company will sell most of its GE Capital Real Estate to funds managed by the investment firm Blackstone. Wells Fargo will buy a portion of the loans at closing. The company plans to sell additional commercial real estate assets that will bring the total value of the deals to around $26.5 billion.

The once broadly diverse conglomerate has been steadily shedding businesses as it focuses more on building industrial machines like aircraft engines and medical imaging equipment and selling big, complex products like power generators and oil and gas equipment.

Last September, it announced the sale of its appliance division to the Swedish appliance maker Electrolux for $3.3 billion. Before that deal, it spun off its consumer credit card business into a new company, Synchrony Financial. In recent years it also has sold NBC Universal and its insurance operations.

An extended run of low-interest rates has made GE's latest divestiture more feasible for the company.

"We see a very attractive market for selling our assets," GE Capital Chairman and CEO Keith Sherin told investors during a conference call. "Bottom line, we think the timing's right to execute this strategic shift."

With the shift, GE expects that more than 90 percent of its earnings will be generated by its industrial business by 2018. That compares with 58 percent in 2014.

While the financial division generates nearly half of the company's profit, is also presents a huge regulatory burden and has caused some anxiety for investors. Heavy exposure to commercial and residential mortgages threatened GE's existence during the financial crisis.

Company officials noted that GE Capital's return on equity slipped to 8.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from 13.1 percent in the final quarter of 2008. The company plans to shed most of its commercial lending and leasing segment, including all of its U.S. and international banking assets.

GE is moving back toward a business that investors can understand better, said Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk.

"At the end of the day, when half your business is a bank, you get a lower valuation and less credit in the marketplace," he said.

GE is already in talks with regulators about removing its designation as a "Systemically Important Financial Institution," which comes with a myriad of requirements not asked of an almost purely industrial entity.

The company will keep parts of its financing business related to its industrial operations, like GE Capital Aviation Services, Energy Financial Services and Healthcare Equipment Finance. The company says it will record about $16 billion in after-tax charges in the first quarter.

But the company also said it expects to return $90 billion to shareholders through the buyback, its dividend and the Synchrony split.

Shares of GE soared almost 8 percent, or $2.04, to $27.77 in midday trading Friday, while broader indexes were largely flat.

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Healey: Forgive student debt

Attorney General Maura Healey, along with attorneys general across the country, is asking the federal Department of Education to forgive the student loan debt of students who they say fell victim to unfair and misleading practices by for-profit schools.

"These are situations where students are simply seeking a way to better themselves, and they get lured in by these false promises, and then they're on the hook for $15,000, $20,000," Healey said. "I've heard from so many people who were victimized by these schools."

Healey and the top law enforcement officials for eight other states sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan yesterday, saying students at schools operated by Corinthian Colleges, including Everest Institute in Chelsea and Brighton, were taken advantage of and asking that their federal loan debt be wiped out.

"At the end of the day, these students were nothing but a pass-through for these schools to get their hands on federal dollars," Healey said. "The welfare and education of students was not their priority; it never has been."

Corinthian reached an agreement last year with the DOE to sell or shut down its campuses. The AG's office sued Corinthian a year ago, claiming students were misled about the schools' track record, and were pressured into accepting loans. The AG has also targeted three other for-profit schools, and Healey said "there are a number of schools under investigation."

A spokesman for Corinthian said the allegations against it focus on isolated incidents.

"Corinthian continues to dispute the allegations made against it and continues to believe its schools provide significant value for its students," the spokesman said.

The letter also asks the Department of Education to create a framework for students of other schools that have been deemed predatory.

"Through their predatory practices, these unscrupulous for-profit schools have co-opted a public loan program intended to increase access to higher education and left hundreds of thousands of students in financial ruin," the letter says. "Aggressive recruitment is the only thing these for-profit schools do well."

The letter says for-profit schools are responsible for nearly half of all student loan defaults, despite only enrolling 13 percent of all students who borrow.

In December, a group of U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, sent a similar letter to the DOE.

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Lawsuit says Wall Street executive overcharged on contracts

WASHINGTON — Two former employees of a helicopter company owned by a prominent Wall Street financier allege that she exploited a connection with an Army colonel to charge the U.S. government inflated prices for rotorcraft.

In documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alabama, the whistleblowers said Lynn Tilton offered the officer, Norbert Vergez, a lucrative job long before he retired from military service as a way of inducing him to make contract decisions favorable to her company, MD Helicopters of Mesa, Arizona.

Attorneys for Tilton have disputed the allegations, calling them weak and implausible.

In a separate but related move, Vergez, who went to work for Tilton after hanging up his uniform, has agreed to plead guilty to false statement and conflict of interest charges. The plea deal with U.S. government attorneys follows a lengthy Justice Department investigation into his stewardship of an Army acquisition office in Alabama and subsequent hiring by the flamboyant and outspoken Tilton.

An arraignment and plea hearing for Vergez, 49, are scheduled for April 20 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The civil suit filed by former MD Helicopter employees Philip Marsteller and Robert Swisher under the False Claims Act came two days after U.S. attorneys unveiled the plea agreement with Vergez. Their lawsuit, which expands on a complaint they first lodged nearly two years ago, paints a dark and more detailed picture than the one presented in the plea agreement Tuesday by the federal government.

That agreement indicated that Vergez's actions, while serious, were limited. He failed to disclose a $30,000 check from his future employer and a $4,000 Rolex wristwatch his wife received as a gift from a foreign company. Vergez also caused the terms of a contract with MD Helicopters to be adjusted in its favor and made a false statement to the Pentagon's inspector general.

The agreement does not mention by name Tilton, MD Helicopters, or Patriarch Partners, her private equity firm and holding company. Tilton and her companies have not been charged.

Marsteller and Swisher, by contrast, depict a prolonged and mutually beneficial business relationship between Tilton and Vergez that covered a period during which MD Helicopters was awarded tens of millions of dollars in helicopter contracts managed by Vergez's office. Tilton and Vergez talked and met frequently — over drinks in Arizona and dinner in Dallas, at Vergez's home in Huntsville, Alabama, and aboard Tilton's private jet, according to the whistleblowers.

MD Helicopters has described Marsteller and Swisher as "disgruntled former employees." Tilton's lawyers said the allegations that her dealings with Vergez were improper or nefarious are baseless. MD Helicopters "sold helicopters to the government at fair and reasonable prices based on proposals that were truthful," they said in a motion requesting that the court dismiss the case.

Tilton describes herself as the business world's "turnaround queen." She buys financially struggling companies and attempts to make them profitable. When she acquired MD Helicopters in 2005, it had fewer than three dozen employees and was on the brink of bankruptcy. Eight years later, it had nearly 500 employees, according to an interview Tilton gave in 2013 to Bloomberg's Businessweek. The about-face, she said, was due largely to "a lot of new business with the U.S. Army."

A lot of that new business came from the Army office Vergez commanded from early 2010 until he retired nearly three years later.

According to the lawsuit, Tilton first became impressed with Vergez after he informed her in March 2011 that an announcement would soon be made that MD Helicopters had won an Army contract potentially worth $186 million for helicopters to train Afghan air force pilots. The helicopters the Army would buy for the Afghans cost $2.3 million each. But MD Helicopters was selling that same model to commercial customers for $400,000 less, the lawsuit said.

"Tilton told her employees that Vergez 'got us this Afghan contract, he has great connections and he will drive our Army business,'" the lawsuit said.

From that point, it was known among a small group of MD employees that Tilton intended to hire Vergez when he retired from the army, according to Marsteller and Swisher.

MD Helicopters received what the lawsuit called a "highly unusual concession" in June 2012 when the company received a nearly $41 million contract to deliver helicopters to the Saudi Arabia National Guard. MD Helicopters was struggling financially at that point, according to the lawsuit, and Vergez used his influence to ensure the company was paid more quickly than normal so it could meet the terms of the contract.

The lawsuit said Marsteller and Swisher told their superiors that employing Vergez at MD Helicopters would be illegal. Vergez ultimately was hired to work for Patriarch, they said, although they said he was directly involved in MD Helicopters' day-to-day business.

Doubts about the hire also echoed in the office of the company's top lawyer, according to a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in Arizona state court by David Ruppert, former general counsel at MD Helicopters.

Ruppert, a Naval Academy graduate and a former Marine, said he expressed concern when he was asked about the possibility of the company hiring "a former United States military employee." The lawsuit, filed in late December, doesn't include names, but the circumstances and timing of events described in it make clear he is referring to Vergez.

Ruppert's lawsuit has been sealed by the court, but the Associated Press obtained a copy.

In August 2013, MD Helicopters and Patriarch Partners received notice that the Justice Department's investigation was underway. Ruppert was wrongfully accused by his employer of being an informant and assisting the government with its inquiry, according to the lawsuit. He was fired by MD Helicopters in early January 2014.

Vergez is no longer employed by any of Tilton's companies, a spokeswoman for Patriarch said.

"Col. Vergez has fully accepted responsibility for his conduct," said Lee Stein, his attorney. "This has been a difficult process and Col. Vergez is looking forward to putting it behind him."

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Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rplardner

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Connector OKs risk adjustment

The state Health Connector board yesterday voted to proceed with an Obamacare provision that small health plans say will move millions of dollars from them to the state's largest insurer based on flawed data.

"We remain very concerned about the impact it will have on the Massachusetts marketplace," said Eric Linzer, vice president of public affairs and operations for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. "Our preference would have been for the connector board to delay finalizing those regulations, given the ongoing data integrity issues."

The connector board voted to approve regulations to implement the Affordable Care Act's risk adjustment provision, which would require insurers to pay into a pool that would be distributed among companies based on the overall health of their members.

Smaller insurance companies have lamented that the data used to calculate this is imperfect, and say they will have to pay more, while larger insurers with sicker populations such as Blue Cross Blue Shield will reap the benefits.

The state is required by the federal government to start the process to adopt the risk adjustment provision this year, according to the connector.

But Linzer said state and federal agencies have compromised on other Obama­care issues, such as rating factors, and that the MAHP "would consider this to be in the same bucket."

According to a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman, "Nearly every major government program uses risk adjustment, including Medicare and Medicaid," and it is "standard practice" in the health care industry.

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Prep Charter plans to build new $24.5M school

Boston Preparatory Charter Public School has filed formal plans with the city to build a permanent school in Hyde Park for an estimated $24.5 million.

The college preparatory middle and high school, which has been leasing the former Most Precious Blood parochial school in Hyde Park since its 2004 founding, plans a three-story, approximately 48,000-square-foot school about a mile away at 875 River St., across from the Shops at Riverwood plaza.

"The new building will provide many program areas and design features that BPCPS does not have in its current leased facility, including dedicated science labs, a library, small-group instructional spaces, a gym, cafeteria, outdoor athletic space and seamless technology integration," according to plans filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The school, which accepts students in grades 6 through 12 through a public lottery, has about 400 enrolled, primarily low-income minority youths from Hyde Park, Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury.

It is raising equity through a capital campaign and plans to finance the rest of the privately funded project through a bank, according to executive director Sharon Liszanckie.

"All public charter schools get a per-pupil rate (of funding from the Department of Education) ... and we get a small allocation for facilities spending, but we don't get any money at all to support the building and construction," she said.

Another Boston charter school, the 17-year-old music-oriented Conservatory Lab Charter School, also has plans for a new school in Roxbury that would replace two temporary locations in Brighton and Dorchester for about 450 pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students.

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Parking fines go up for Red Sox game days

Beginning Monday on Opening Day, people who park in resident-only spaces in the neighborhoods around Fenway Park during Red Sox games will have to pay more than double the usual fine.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh yesterday signed an ordinance — passed by the City Council Wednesday — that will pilot increasing the fine from $40 to $100 to discourage game attendees who don't live in those neighborhoods from parking in resident-only zones.

"This ordinance is a great step forward for residents of the Fenway, Kenmore Square and Audubon Circle," said City Councilor Josh Zakim, who sponsored the ordinance. "These changes will help restore the parking balance in the neighborhoods around Fenway Park during some of the busiest months of the year."

The increase in fines will take effect two hours before any Major League game at Fenway Park and extend to two hours after the game. Fines also may be hiked during other Fenway Park events on a case-by-case basis.

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Hot Property: Communities the ‘new neighborhoods’

From pet-washing stations and green roofs to bocce courts, yoga studios, fire pits and screening rooms, Boston-area apartment and condo complexes are piling on the amenities.

With studios fetching upward of $2,000 per month and $1 million-plus condos, developers are sweetening the deal — so much so that the complexes are becoming the "new neighborhood," according to Boston Realtor David Bates.

"The new buildings have so many exciting amenities," Bates said. "A lot of them go out of their way to create community, to create that sense of things you get from a neighborhood."

Millennium Partners is exporting its La Vie lifestyle program — exclusive activities and social events for condo residents that have included fireside chats with notable guests and culinary and theatrical events — to its new Millennium Tower project in Boston's Downtown Crossing after success at its nearby Millennium Place.

"It's so hot they copyrighted the whole thing," Bates said. "It really goes over well."

Tenants are looking to connect, whether it's electronically or in person, said Kay Nilakantan, general manager of Van Ness, Samuels & Associates' 172-unit luxury apartment complex in the Fenway neighborhood, where residents will start moving in June 1.

"There seems to be more focus and attention on communal spaces where customers can gather together," Nilakantan said.

But communal spaces these days go far beyond a bland shell of a community room. At the Van Ness, there's a poker area in an alcove and a TV lounge with a billiards table connected to a separate conference room. There's also a rooftop lounge with grills and a fifth-floor green terrace.

"Since we're developing a lot of buildings in one neighborhood, we want each building to have its own personality and be different from each other," said Peter Sougarides, Samuels' executive vice president of development.

The Van Ness' green design and amenities take cues from the Emerald Necklace park system that extends through the Fenway. Thousands of plants will be growing on the "living wall" in the lobby, and the green terrace is almost a half-acre of green space with trees and grass.

Amenities also are geared toward pet owners: a secure "bark park" at Atmark in Cambridge and even an "indoor dog relief area" at 315 on A in Fort Point.

The Merc at Moody & Main, Northland Investment's Waltham apartment complex that started leasing this week, has a dog-bathing room. "We're also arranging for other services we can bring in for pet owners," senior vice president Peter Standish said.

The Merc will include a lounge with a fireplace, a billiards room, a library, a rooftop deck and a club room with a full kitchen that can be used for parties or cooking demonstrations. "One of the important things we like to include is areas where people can gather together and really use that as an extension of their apartment," Standish said.

Developers also up the ante to rival outside fitness centers, with yoga and spinning rooms, and virtual training. "You can have an instructor who's offsite, and they get on the screen and take you through your workout," Bates said. "Some have exercises bikes that connect over the Internet, and you can race your friend in California."

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Latest on Apple Watch release: Shopping begins

11:09 a.m. EDT.

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster estimates that launch day supply (the models available for shipping on April 24th) was largely sold out within the first 10 to 30 minutes of going on sale. "We view this as an indication of solid demand paired with very limited supply, with supply being the most significant limiting factor," he writes in a note Friday morning.

___

10:57 a.m. EDT (6:57 a.m. PDT).

It's quiet outside the Apple store in downtown Palo Alto, California, which is one of the company's flagship retail locations, on University Avenue in the heart of Silicon Valley. In past years, Apple fans have held festive overnight vigils outside the store and lined up on the sidewalk to be among the first to buy the latest models of iPhones and iPads.

But three hours before the store is scheduled to open, the only people outside are a local television crew and a couple of passersby who stopped briefly to watch the crew file a live report. Inside the store, Apple retail workers can be seen through the glass doors setting up displays, including a line of glass-topped cases containing the new watches.

— AP Technology Reporter, Brandon Bailey

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10:45 a.m. EDT.

If you haven't already ordered an Apple Watch, don't expect to get one when it starts shipping on April 24.

Apple's store in the U.S. is citing delivery of June or "4-6 weeks" for most models, including large expensive luxury versions with leather bands. The large version of a stainless-steel model with a black link bracelet won't be shipping until July — for $1,099.

When Apple has done advance orders in the past, it makes inventory available in stores for launch day — in this case, April 24. But Apple has no plans for that this time. For the foreseeable future, all orders must be handled online, even if you visit a store to try one on.

— Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer

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10:28 a.m. EDT.

Tanien "David" Wang was the first to enter Apple's store on New York's Upper West Side. Employees clapped and cheered as Wang raised both arms over his head in triumph.

The 48-year old plumber knew which Apple Watch he wanted — the large Sport version with a black band for $399 — but he came to an Apple store rather than order online so that staff could walk him through it.

Friends in China have asked him to order some watches, since they are cheaper in the U.S. (The same model costs $481 in China.) Smiling, Wang says he wants to see their money first.

— Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer

___

10:21 a.m. EDT.

Why is Apple insisting on online orders, even for those who come to a store to try on the watch?

Inventory management seems to be a big reason. Angela Ahrendts, Apple's senior vice president for its stores, said the company expects "strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch. 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."

The try-on visit "gives the air of concierge service and something extra to the process, while operationally it's pretty smart for them," says Anne Zybowski, vice president for retail insights at the consulting firm Kantar Retail in Boston.

It's not unprecedented in retail to have a sales representative walk you through your options before buying. Think wedding dresses and home furnishings.

These visits are "more for people who are on the fence and want to explore what it is," says Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies. Those who already know what they want will likely just buy it online.

— Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer

___

10:07 a.m. EDT.

Apple hasn't offered any estimates of how many watches it expects to sell, but some analysts have predicted sales could reach 10 million to 20 million units in the first year. Veteran Apple watcher Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, has offered a more conservative estimate of 8 million. He expects about 300,000 advance orders on Friday, with about 1 million watches sold in the first weekend after they become available for shipping on April 24.

By comparison, Apple sold more than 10 million of its new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones in the first weekend they were available in September, and a record total of 74.5 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of last year. Munster has said he expects the Apple Watch will see healthy sales growth over the next three years. But he cautioned in a recent report that the smartwatch is still a new product category and said "it will likely take time" for the appeal to extend beyond hard-core Apple fans.

— Brandon Bailey, AP Technology Writer

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9:51 a.m. EDT.

Victor Leung is grinning from ear to ear after finishing his watch appointment at the 5th Avenue store and ordering the sport model. The student says he's been waiting for this launch since September and is the first among his friends to get the Apple Watch.

"It's awesome," Leung says. "You get texts on your watch, make phone calls." While he has tried other smartwatches, he thinks "Apple is different," more unique.

Andrew Klink snapped a photo of the sports watch display case. "My boyfriend wants it," says the retired American who is visiting New York from his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He's "not sure this is something anybody needs," but likes the simple design, the matte color of the sports watch strap, and the clasp.

"It's handsome, and I think reasonably priced," he says.

— Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

___

9:03 a.m. EDT.

As Apple's 5th Avenue store in New York City prepares to open, journalists and Apple employees outnumber people waiting for the watch.

Robert Jose, who has lined up in the drizzle not for a watch but to get a charger and exchange his iPhone, thought it would be a "little crazier" given the usual hoopla around iPhone launches.

"It doesn't look like Black Friday yet. No fists flying," the retail worker says. Caught up in the excitement anyway, Jose wants to "get in there" to get a glimpse at the watch.

Physician Asif Luqman has made an appointment to look at a steel version.

"I'm not getting it, just want to try it on. I like watches a lot," he says. He wants to see it because it is the first of its kind. Apple, he believes, has put in the time and the effort to make a high-quality watch. He's not getting it though.

"I'm waiting for the next version," he says. "I want a watch that can function on its own." Now it's a small screen on your wrist for your phone. "I don't need that."

As a doctor, he's also concerned about battery life. His phone already dies halfway through the day, the watch dies faster and not enough people will have it yet to have chargers laying around, he says.

— Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

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7:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 p.m. in London)

In London's Covent Garden, a tourist hotspot, a buzz is growing in the Apple flagship store as dozens of fans come to check out the new Apple Watch.

Some crouch over glass counters to play with sample watches, while others who had pre-booked appointments try them on their wrists.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time," says Carl Walsh, a 43-year-old company director. "It's beautifully developed, but I'll probably want to wait a bit and see what people say about the battery life."

The watch is Apple's first new product category since the iPad came out five years ago. Analysts are waiting to see how well the watch will sell beyond devoted Apple fans. Apple has a better chance at succeeding than any other smartwatch maker so far, yet it will likely take time before sales reach the kind of numbers that Apple gets for iPhones and iPads.

Watch prices start at $349, but can go as high as $17,000 for a luxury edition in gold. People can try the watch on in Apple stores, but for now all orders are being handled online. Shipments begin April 24.

Regy Selsaas, 42, is here to see if the watch would make a good gift for his wife.

"It's more like a gadget than a phone," he says, wincing at the high price tag of the luxury version. "It's really beautiful but expensive. I'm not 100 percent convinced."

Jay Carroll, 15, needs no persuading. He and his mother Sarah placed an online order first thing Friday, but the two still wanted to try it out in store.

"I'm looking forward to just having it there on my wrist, so I can be on my phone all the time," he says.

—Sylvia Hui, AP writer

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5:30 a.m. EDT (6:30 p.m. in Tokyo):

The curious in Japan form a long line in Isetan department store, where a special section was built just for the Apple watch.

The 70-square-meter (750-square-foot) modernist box with black floors and walls is staffed by about a dozen workers clad in black.

Only 20 customers are allowed in at a time, and only those with advance reservations or who showed up early enough to get one of 76 lottery tickets got to try the watch on.

The rest could only look at a display of 19 watches under a glass showcase. They range in price from about 43,000 yen ($360) to 2,800,000 yen ($23,300) for the luxury edition in gold.

— Noriko Kitano, AP writer

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5 a.m. EDT (5 p.m. in Shanghai):

In central Shanghai, potential Apple watch buyers stand in lines two to five people long over their lunch hour at an Apple store to try on the watch many say they already planned to buy.

"It was beautifully made, like an expensive watch," says Li Hao, 27, a Web designer who owns a Mac, an iPad and an Apple TV. He has just traded up from an iPhone 4 to the new iPhone 6 Plus.

China was among countries where the watch had its global debut Friday, reflecting the country's fast-growing status as one of Apple's most important markets.

Li said he planned to buy the sport version of the watch at about 3,000 yuan ($500).

"I cannot do sports with the mobile phone," he said. "I need a machine to record what I did and a screen to look at."

Qi Tian, 26, who works in human resources for a real estate company, says he is "not a big fan" of Apple, though he owns four or five products. He says he plans to order a watch online that day.

"I just came to see if the size fits," says Qi.

— Fu Ting, AP researcher.

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3:01 a.m. EDT (12:01 a.m. in Cupertino, California):

Ready, set, go ...

Apple starts taking orders for the watch on its website and Apple Store app. Currently, this is the only way Apple is selling the watch. Even those visiting retail stores will have to order online — either at home or at a Web terminal inside the store.

The retail stores are meant for customers who aren't sure which watch case, band or size they want — or aren't sure they even want one. Staff will be on hand to help customers try on the watches and answer questions before buying. Customers are encouraged to make an appointment online, though walk-ins will be accepted — just expect a wait.

It's available in the U.S. and eight other markets around the world. In the U.S., the watch is available only in Apple stores. In some countries, select department stores and resellers also have it.

— Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer

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Analyst downgrades Apple shares as smartwatch goes on sale

NEW YORK — As consumers trekked to Apple stores to try on the company's smartwatch for the first time, a Raymond James analyst downgraded shares of the tech giant, saying its first product launch under CEO Tim Cook poses "more risk than reward."

Analyst Tavis McCourt downgraded the shares to "Market Perform" from "Outperform," saying fiscal 2016 is shaping up to be difficult year for the company compared to this year. While sales of the Apple Watch won't be a big part of the company's earnings for some time, McCourt said reviews have not been great and investors may start to worry that the company is going to struggle with launching new products.

"Early reviews on Apple Watch suggest it will fall far short of the 'insanely great' benchmark, at least in this first iteration," he said. While Apple has launched several new versions of the iPhone in Cook's nearly four-year tenure as CEO, the Apple Watch is its first entirely new product in that time.

McCourt raised his profit and revenue forecasts because he thinks iPhones are selling well in China and expects an increased stock buyback by the company. He set a price target of $124 on the stock in January and expects shares to stay around their current prices.

Shares of Apple Inc. have climbed 69 percent over the last 12 months. They reached an all-time high of $133.60 in February and lost 29 cents to $126.27 in midday trading.

Consumers were allowed to pre-order the Apple Watch starting at 3 a.m. Eastern time on Friday. They can also make an appointment to come to Apple stores to try on the watch and test out some of its features. The first people who pre-ordered the device are expected to receive it in June.

Some analysts expect the company to sell 10 million to 20 million watches in the first year alone, but others are less optimistic. Based on a Raymond James survey, McCourt said around 22 million iPhone users plan to buy the product. That's a small percentage out of around 400 million iPhone users, he said, but it's a large number of buyers.

The Cupertino, California-based company is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter results after the market closes on April 27.

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