Angela Ahrendts Updates Retail Employees on Apple Watch and MacBook Launch Situation

[One2Manycats]

Communication is the key. Lack of it, was the real problem here.

I completely agree. Apple should have been proactive with communicating with their customers and for that matter with their employees.

It's interesting that either Angela felt the need to offer an explanation by doing this video or she was told to offer an explanation. Either way Apple put her out there front and centre, which was very deliberate.

There was just noway they were ready to launch the MacBook.

I think most people are expecting delays during a popular launch. However, some Apple Stores still had not seen or really heard anything a week after the launch.

My MacBook is scheduled to be delivered by May 15th. The USB to USB-C adapter will be delivered 10 days after that. Wow, their still scrabbling.

A WWDC launch could have been as they say "iconic".

 

[elgrecomac]

As for Apple not letting people try an Apple product before, there's never been an Apple product before that you've had to try on for fit..

Well when they first had the original iPad in the store they could show it to you but you could not hold it. The dweebs in the blue tee shirts wernt allowed to let you do that. I just wanted to see if it was too heavy for my taste. I was pissed so I walked out of the store .And it was too heavy so I passed on that version.

 

[kwikdeth]

Really? You can't compare unit sales to direct competition as a measure of performance? I bet Samsung is glad to hear that.

If the 2-3 million number proves to be true, it smokes every Apple new product launch by a lot.

no, you cant, its called "scale". if your benchmark is say, 75 million devices a quarter and you only sell 2, that's not a good quarter. If your benchmark is 5 million devices a quarter and you sell 2, you just had a awesome quarter. You cant compare Apple Watch sales to Google watch sales unless you aggregate ALL google watch sales as a single figure. You dont ever hear people saying "iOS is beating HTC Sense market share!" you hear "iOS is beating ANDROID market share"

by using your logic, Ford Motor Company sells better products than Lamborghini, because Ford sells 500x more cars than Lamborghini. clearly they sell more, so clearly Ford is the better company, right?

 

[Patriot24]

no, you cant, its called "scale". if your benchmark is say, 75 million devices a quarter and you only sell 2, that's not a good quarter. If your benchmark is 5 million devices a quarter and you sell 2, you just had a awesome quarter. You cant compare Apple Watch sales to Google watch sales unless you aggregate ALL google watch sales as a single figure. You dont ever hear people saying "iOS is beating HTC Sense market share!" you hear "iOS is beating ANDROID market share"

by using your logic, Ford Motor Company sells better products than Lamborghini, because Ford sells 500x more cars than Lamborghini. clearly they sell more, so clearly Ford is the better company, right?

No one was comparing with a single manufacturer (there is no such thing as "Google Watch"). I believe the 700k number quoted earlier is the aggregate figure for all Android Wear devices across all manufacturers. Thus the direct comparison to Apple Watch.

Regardless, the Apple Watch is clearly on its way to being a success story.

 

[Smileyboy]

People act like they are the only folks in the world that want these things...like they were hoping "bad" reviews would decrease demand or something.

A million is one-thousand...THOUSAND. That's a lot of *anything*...let alone a thing that has at least 50, more likely 100 pieces. It's just...a lot. Most people have a hard time getting their heads around big numbers if it isn't a part of what they do. it is a NON-TRIVIAL PROBLEM.

If they had a million watches, they would have sold out of them in a mere 10 MINUTES @ 100,000 orders per minute. That would be if less than ONE out of every EIGHT people in just...New York City *alone* would have bought one.

Unless they'd stockpiled these things for MONTHS and MONTHS, there simply isn't any conceivable way to meet that kind of demand for *anyone*.

I wish people understood this stuff more, even a little. it would save them *so* much stress and consternation

-K

True. I'm just a frustrated 4-6 weeker...

 

[hans1972]

and wait for 3-4 weeks? for a mac?

Reasonable Man: Orders the Macbook on April 8th. Arrives on April 30th.

You: Wait until it appears in store for sale in June, goes to the store and picks one up.

Which one seems smarter if one wants the Macbook as soon as possible?

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Then they obviously weren't ready to launch.

They are not going to have a huge inventory sitting in storage for several months only to able to serve everyone immediately. Inventory is evil and Tim Cook is famous for getting almost rid of Apple inventories.

It is a balancing act: Apple choose to have as low inventory as possible and still be able to serve a certain proportion of the orders.

 

[hans1972]

So maybe $80? But I doubt it. Six months ago everybody though the gold edition was going to be $600 -$1200. The margins on these things are likely ridiculous.

No, John Gruber, posted on September 16th that he believed that the Apple Watch could cost as much as $10,000.

 

[kingofwale]

Reasonable Man: Orders the Macbook on April 8th. Arrives on April 30th.

You: Wait until it appears in store for sale in June, goes to the store and picks one up.

Which one seems smarter if one wants the Macbook as soon as possible?

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They are not going to have a huge inventory sitting in storage for several months only to able to serve everyone immediately. Inventory is evil and Tim Cook is famous for getting almost rid of Apple inventories.

It is a balancing act: Apple choose to have as low inventory as possible and still be able to serve a certain proportion of the orders.

how can someone order the mac on the 8th? there's no pre-order.

also this is MAC we are talking about here, they aren't going to sell millions

 

[Andrei90]

Go quote my post please. Please quote my original post. You said



I said



Email Tim and see if he'll have more sympathy for you than I have because you can't buy the Apple Watch in the store. Go cry in a corner somewhere.

Hell if you want to get technical you can order a AppleWatch in the store with one of the many Macs they have in the store.

You clearly said APPLE PRODUCTS.

10million+ iPhone 6 users bought their products online along with 2million+ Apple Watch users.

I'm sorry, I didn't know that I had to explain you like if you were a baby. Do you know what context means? You should look it up.

 

[Hieveryone]

I really don't like Angela. (Assuming she's as expensive as she is)

Edit: Because of her the weird training tactics (segregated consumers by class demographic)
And because the retail experience has declined since she's been head of retail

EXACTLY.

I noticed this too!

 

[RnSK]

I remember when those new thin iMacs came out...

...you could just walk into a store on launch day and get one!

Oh...wait...you totally couldn't. It kind of reminds me of a recent Mac notebook launch.

 

[battlez]

saving face for such a blunder of a launch.

We didn't mind the lines, we didn't mind the low supply, it was at least consistent and we knew what to expect. This? This is madness.

I agree a complete headache

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I'm glad I didn't pre-order. I kinda want one, but I can wait till the 2nd or 3rd rev. A sellout only confirms there will be more revs.

I'm not so sure there is a sell out seems to be a marketing strategy to me because they can play with our loyalty and create nightmares for us

 

[srazz]

For Apples sake I hope "launch day" works out for them. Because of right now it doesn't look good and can you imagine what the news companies will report... It's Apples launch day for the watch and thousands of people who preordered still don't have the product. Then God forbid there's a technical issue with the watch...

 

[topmounter]

Many times when I've stopped at my local Apple store the iPhone tables were basically dead. Maybe one or two people playing around with them. Should I read into that that iPhone isn't popular?

The difference being that various versions of the iPhone have been on the market since 2007.

 

[PrfPam]

Seriously?

Ahrendts also once again confirmed that the Apple Watch launch is a unique situation and not reflective of Apple's launch plans going forward. "We love our launches we do in stores," she said. "Have absolutely no fear, this is a unique situation."

Both the Apple Watch and the MacBook are in very short supply. Apple Watch orders placed today won't ship out until June or later, and MacBook orders for standard configurations carry shipping estimates of four to six weeks.


From the company that thinks different?

Seriously where did she come from? The iPod, the iPhone, the iPad were all new and unique devices that were totally different from previous products and the stores were stocked with them; no one was making excuses; there WAS a product launch. HOW can she say this with a straight face? Making excuses for poor product management (and by the way Apple fans LIKE to stand in line - what is this we will never have to stand in line again comment?)... I guess Burberry has a different retail management philosophy.

Apple knows their product launch history... did those in charge of inventory not do any research to define the demand? How could they be so off base? And why the "global" launch... Is Angela the one who made these decisions? April 24 was promised to be the launch day... epic FAIL for not one but two products. WWSS?

Apple find people who can think different, and keep their word on delivery and launch....

I haven't seen Apple make this big a mistake since Gil Amelio

PS I have been an Apple fan for 30 years...

 

[DarwinOSX]

With all the ums and overly affected hand gestures she does not inspire confidence.
I still don't get why she has this job. Selling high end coats to this? For $70 million?.

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how can someone order the mac on the 8th? there's no pre-order.

also this is MAC we are talking about here, they aren't going to sell millions

Mac, not mac or MAC.
Apple sold 5.5 million in just the last quarter of 2014. Yes those are different models but they do sell many millions of...Mac's....per year.

 

[determined09]

Is there any updates?