FBR Capital analyst Daniel Ives said the momentum for the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Watch is picking into Friday's (April 24) official launch.

Ives said they are "seeing evidence of stronger-than-expected demand for the highly anticipated watch based on our analysis/initial attach rates, as the company tries to keep up with the healthy appetite for its new device category from Apple devotees."

He added, "Although it remains in the very early innings for the watch, the longer-term consumer adoption curve for the Apple Watch remains a major "hot button" question among tech investors as broad customer feedback is yet to be seen."

As a result the firm is raising their Apple Watch shipment estimates for CY15 from 17 million units to 20 million units, as they estimate sales of over 2 million units during the pre-sales phase alone and believe watch revenues could contribute as much as 8% of total revenue in FY17.

Further, the analyst said they "believe strong early interest in the device will have positive implications for Apple over the coming quarters/years and we continue to view the launch of the Apple Watch as a major potential door opener for wearable technology across the board as this next paradigm shift is likely set to take place across the consumer/enterprise landscape."

"With the Apple brand/unmatched consumer base now behind it, we think the wearables category potentially has a “silver bullet” product, which can start to move consumers toward this new avenue of technology growth and drive adoption of the Apple Watch. With Apple positioned to take the lead in what we believe could be the mainstream proliferation of wearable devices, we think a massive land grab opportunity in technology could ultimately open up another ecosystem for enterprises looking to create applications, devices, and solutions around the wearables market. Overall, we believe Apple Watch pre-sales have been robust and we expect initial indications on watch sales on or before the company's earnings report on Monday (after-the-market close)."

The firm maintained an Outperform rating and price target of $185 on Apple.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Apple click here. For more ratings news on Apple click here.

Shares of Apple closed at $126.91 yesterday.