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Would you call the Apple Watch rollout successful? The entire roll out? I'm talking, the sell only online, the reservation system to try the watch on, the putting watches in boutique shops before they are even available in Apple retail stores.. You think all of that was successful? Are you saying that she didn't have a giant seat at the table during all of this? I'm thinking that she did...

Or what about this dandy of a quote she sent to retail employees prior the Apple Watch launch:

"This is our moment to shine, this will be a launch unlike any we've ever had before... this is what you were born to do, this is why you are at Apple," Ahrendts told employees hoping to encourage them to re-review the Apple Watch training materials.

We could also get into a broader discussion about the choices that have been made in actually promoting the watch prior to launch.. The MASSIVE marketing campaign that was created by putting the watch on the wrists of celebrities, in fashion magazines, etc. All screaming exclusive, all screaming elite, all something we had never seen from Apple as a company before. Again, were these decisions made by her alone? Probably not.. But did she have a very large seat at the table? Obviously. She just so happened to head an overpriced fashion house prior to Apple offering her 100 million dollars for what purpose I do not know. It's some coincidence, wouldn't you say, that such a marketing direction was taken for the first major product she was a part of after being hired at the company? She seems out of touch to me for what the company has always stood for.

So no, it has nothing to do with her being a woman. It has to do with incompetence and not particularly liking the strategic choices she has made in regards to her very large position in the company.
You think that any of those marketing decisions were hers? Or maybe they were the MARKETING team's decision. Marketing decided to give watches to Beyonce. Marketing decided that watches should be available in boutique stores. (Plus, Apple has ALWAYS given their gadgets to celebrities before launch. See Steven Colbert with his pre-release iPad at the Grammys.) Which is a whole separate department, headed by Phil Schiller. But you never see Phil blamed for marketing the watch. I've NEVER seen Phil blamed for the marketing of the watch. But Marketing decides that they want this to be an exclusive, fashion-y, affluent product, not the head of friggen retail.

Maybe the "this is what you're born to do" comment was a little much. But it's the typical "company rah rah" that happens before any kind of big event. Hell, Walmart makes all their employees sing a Walmart song in the mornings. It was a benign comment.

And the rollout. Obviously they couldn't ship the watches to every store. The roll out would be the worst in history if people lined up over night the store, then showed up and have a big giant guessing game for which watches they had in stock. Online-only was lightyears better than only having 2 or 3 of each model at any given store. This isn't anything Angela could have done. This would have been an operations problem, which would be Jeff Williams's problem. Or a supply chain problem, which would be Tim Cook's problem. Angela has nothing to do with supply chain. She was given X number of launch-day watches and told to sell them.

Regarding the reservation system: what do you honestly think would have been better than a reservation system? Showing up at your store of choice because maybe the watch you want is there? Apple has never sold a high-profile product with so many variants. So obviously they had to do things differently. I think Angela came up with a very pragmatic solution.
 
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Coming back to Back to School promo, I can absolutely see them adding Apple Music subscriptions as a bonus.
They do it a bit later, because now everyone is at the beginning of free trial of AM. 12 months for a new Mac and 6 for iPad/iPhone seem quite realistic ($120/$60 worth of subscription vs $100/$50 gift cards).

Also, Apple probably wants to increase its market share among music streaming apps, and getting one of the most active groups of users - students - is a very smart move. Plus Spotify offers 50% off premium for students (at least in the UK) and has a free tier.
 
Coming back to Back to School promo, I can absolutely see them adding Apple Music subscriptions as a bonus.
They do it a bit later, because now everyone is at the beginning of free trial of AM. 12 months for a new Mac and 6 for iPad/iPhone seem quite realistic ($120/$60 worth of subscription vs $100/$50 gift cards).

Also, Apple probably wants to increase its market share among music streaming apps, and getting one of the most active groups of users - students - is a very smart move. Plus Spotify offers 50% off premium for students (at least in the UK) and has a free tier.

How about Deaf people like myself? I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the promo if it was a free year of music.
 
3) Lines - the lines were cute in the beginning, but I think they've become unruly and honestly make no sense in a world where pre-ordering items has been possible (i.e. forever). Sure, fans can camp outside if they want, but since the average person needs to work to make a living during the day, pre-orders should and *need* to be the preferred way to buy new Apple products.

I like the lines. It forms a sense of community, for the nerdiness that is about to happen. We're all being drawn to a fixed point for the same purpose. Friends gather, meet other friends, and enjoy whatever Apple is releasing and potentially get some SWAG. Getting everything online is boring and impersonal. I like the satisfaction of holding it in my hands before I buy. Plus the fervor and excitement from everyone around makes the shopping experience something cool.

One other thing that I really miss is the Apple Theater. Seminars and watching Keynotes were a lot of fun at the Apple Store. Now it's morphed itself into this almost Stepford-like THX1138 dendrite shop.
 
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Coming back to Back to School promo, I can absolutely see them adding Apple Music subscriptions as a bonus.
They do it a bit later, because now everyone is at the beginning of free trial of AM. 12 months for a new Mac and 6 for iPad/iPhone seem quite realistic ($120/$60 worth of subscription vs $100/$50 gift cards).

Also, Apple probably wants to increase its market share among music streaming apps, and getting one of the most active groups of users - students - is a very smart move. Plus Spotify offers 50% off premium for students (at least in the UK) and has a free tier.

I already have two and a half months worth of music that I already own on my CPU. The music streaming service is of little interest to me. I try not to be tethered to the net at all times, besides my data plan on my phone would get eaten up rather quickly. Until free broadband access becomes part of the Modern Bill of Rights, streaming can take a hike.
 
I'd really like it if it didn't have to be used for the streaming music service. $100 for apps, music or equipment plus the hardware discount and I'm buying now (it's kind of a no-brainer, even if you had to finance it a few months earlier that were were going to buy anyways). The hardware discount and a service that I haven't even gotten around to try the free trial (that's how uninterested in it I am), not so much.

Now on the other hand, what they used to give you (on top of the hardware discount) was an iPod, so them forcing you to get something you want isn't so cRaZy! They wanted you in the eco system.

But it's the middle of the week so I'm ready for some info on this.

Gary
 
https://www.apple.com/promo/pdf/Back_to_School_2015_Terms_Conditions_US.pdf

Is it what we are gonna get this year??

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THE OFFER: Qualified Education Individuals who purchase an Eligible Product (as defined below) during the Promo Period may elect to receive one of the following promotional products (each, a “Promo Product”):

• One (1) pair of Beats Solo2 On-Ear Headphones (Gloss Black, Gloss White, Gloss Red, Gloss Blue, Gloss Gray, or Gloss Pink), for which an instant credit in the amount of $199.95 will be applied to your order, or

• One (1) pair of Beats Solo2 Wireless On-Ear Headphones (Space Gray, Silver, or Gold), for which an instant credit in the amount of $199.95 will be applied to your order. The Qualified Education Individual shall be responsible for paying the remaining balance in price ($100), following application of the instant credit to the purchase price.
-----
 
So...where's everyone that was saying the promotion is just done with, or how it's just simply too late to even try to have it (and all the doom and gloom that must imply about this or that)?
 
I have just gone to the Apple Education web site, added my rPBP to my cart but there is no promotion as far as I can tell. When is this suppose to happen?
 
Really?

Sennheiser HD201 Lightweight Over-Ear Binaural Headphones
808 Over-The-Ear Stereo Headphones
Panasonic RP-HTF600-S Stereo Over-ear Headphones
Beats Executive Over-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones


All advertised on Amazon...
Yeah the Beats Solo2's are ON-Ear. Go to their website. That's what they call it, plus unless you have 1.5" ears, those aren't fitting over them!
 
She is doing basically the same, except she is better dressed. Delivering the image to those image driven Chinese... Burberry and stuff, you know...

So only Chinese are driven by image?
I didn't realize Burberry was made in China or that it was sold exclusively in China. Oh, that's right; neither is true.
 
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So only Chinese are driven by image?
I didn't realize Burberry was made in China or that it was sold exclusively in China. Oh, that's right; neither is true.
I Font know, what drives you to suddenly answer such old posts, but I will try to explain, what I meant here:

she is a figurehead for that kind of style especially for the Chinese, because China is a market with one of the biggest sales potentials and Chinese are going crazy for European luxury brands, much more than Europeans themselves.

Nobody said something about being exclusive and in general, it was just a silly post, not really worth of commenting.

Btw, you would be surprised to know, where many of the luxury brands like Burberry, Prada, Hermes etc. often produce their products...
 
Several Burberry items from the Brit line actually are made in China, and there's a massive market for Burberry in China, so Even Longer did have a fair point
 
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