Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Angela Ahrendts Updates Retail Employees on Apple Watch and MacBook Launch Situation
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
5 Apple minutes is two years for other companies.
700,000 android smart watches sold in 12 months
2.3 millionWatches sold in 5 minutes.
And yet, there are still people claiming that this will be a failure. They'll ride the Titanic right to the bottom of the Atlantic before they think "maybe I should've got in that lifeboat?"
Baffling.
You are misunderstanding. Anyone could try them on but they went on sale before the demos started. If you didn't want to wait several months for a watch, you had to order as soon as they went on sale and guess which one you wanted. The watch should not have gone on sale until people had a chance to try them on.
Problem is you can't predict the number of watches you can produce to satisfy demand, especially if you are in a time intensive tech market. IMO this is the right play for Apple.
Steve Jobs would have eaten a small child over this sloppy ass release if he was still alive!!! I had my order placed within 30 seconds of the site going live, and I am being told that I probably will not receive mine until the 28th... per the call center rep my order was 24th IN THE WORLD... I have no idea if thats true, just what he said, he may have been being facetious... point is this is a HUGE fail!!
you say that like they hired her off the street or something. she's a seasoned executive, public speaking should be a given.
But hasn't this always been the way of things? Apple doesn't typically put anything in the store until pre-order day?
I fail to see how this is somehow new or Ahrendts' fault?
And where's the outrage for Jeff Williams...ya know the COO? The Watch ordeal has to do with supply chain management- not with stores having the watch on launch day. If there's not enough supply, blame who manages the supply chain.
Sure you can... Apple has bean counters that know this stuff. Make MORE than you think you need, it's not like they won't eventually sell. This is very amateur of them.
I'm guessing they didn't make a lot in order to make sure it sold out, but they somewhat underestimated demand. I'll be interested in if they release actual sales numbers so we can see how much of the delay is due to high demand and how much is from low supply.
Agreed, however, you can stagger the product, for instance instead of 20 some odd models at once release the sports in a couple colors, then a few more in a few weeks, then the stainless models in a few weeks, etc... I bet Kanye and Kim have their $17,000 watch on the 24th...
And yet, there are still people claiming that this will be a failure. They'll ride the Titanic right to the bottom of the Atlantic before they think "maybe I should've got in that lifeboat?"
Baffling.
you cant really compare apple watch sales to android watch sales, just like you cant compare iphones sales to android sales unless you're speaking specifically about Samsung's S series. no other manufacturer moves anything in the same quantity as Apple. if you want a fair comparison as to the success or failure of the apple watch, compare it to other Apple launches.
People are full of generalities today. This is not true. There are plenty of executives that are very good at their jobs and horrible at public speaking. That's why they have managers of communication and client liaisons, etc. Some people are just better
Exactly. Ahrendts work as CEO of Burberry speaks for itself. She is an extremely creative individual with great ideas and execution. It will take her time to ease into her position in a completely new market.
Otherwise, I'm surprised so many are complaining about waiting a few more days for a watch. Have we become so impatient and out of touch that a few days or weeks for a new technological device is maddening? Some perspective is definitely needed for some
Meh. Just because she had some success at selling rain boots and umbrellas doesn't mean she'll make it here. I thought she seemed amateurish in the video. As a former CEO, she should have had plenty of experience speaking in public--and this wasn't even in public, it was in front of a camera--to be good at it. And that jerky, fake use of the hands to keep from seeming nervous, PUH-LEEE-SE.
I'm not holding her to some impossibly high public-speaking comparison to Jobs, I just expect that she can hold her own on stage and be able to articulate a clear message in a camera-friendly way. As opposed to: using "Um" every other sentence, flapping her hands everywhere, eyes swiveling around in their sockets, clearly wanting to be anywhere but in front of that camera.
its immensely hilarious to me how apple has more supply problems and leaks than ever and yet the company is being run by a "supply chain expert"
who gives a crap about the stupid ipad? the thing does what the phone does, "oh look at me, now I can do everything I did before but on a bigger screen! yaaay". people you are buying crap you DOOONTT neeeed.
Yep. Why doesn't anyone remember the well deserved barrage of comments directed at John Browett, the last retail head?
I thought the 20 odd model was a bad idea as well, I thought it caused more confusion for the consumer. Kanye and Kim probably already have theirs as we speak but they didn't buy them they were probably gifted.
it is if I cancel my order and buy from the craigslist guy that bought 15 of them...
this is true but im not gonna put an executive in charge of R&D in front of a microphone. Handling PR is a requisite of the head of retail.
You're not wrong. Looked like in a panic she'd ran out of the office and down a backstreet with a low level employee carry a video camera.
I bet what we don't see when the video ends is Tim Cook holding an M4 in a black pickup with armed guards chasing her with an iCopter flying overhead.
In all seriousness though I think this whole procedure has been intentional. It's creating an exclusivity that'll be unparalleled in smart tech and in the Apple Eco system.
If you think about how you'd sell the watch in a TV ad it'd give you a headache. There's no killer app or function that tells people they need it. So what I think they've done is three fold:
1. Show it off in stores and let people try it to satisfy those that cannot commit to something without knowing what it looks like on.
2. Stick it on celebs way before it's available to influence those who care about what A-listers are up to.
3. Severely limit the number of units available at launch so that the early adopters effectively become the walking commercials. Hard to see why it's cool in an ad or in pictures but having someone you know or meet demo it for you = win for Apple. Couple this with zero availability and you're gonna have queues until Xmas.
Pretty smart but I think it's slightly backfired for Apple as I think the demand was way higher than expected. Which would explain the exclusive deal for developers (which I wish I knew a week ago). They didn't anticipate the scenario where the most important benefactors to a new device, the devs, would get left out in the cold, so they've shunted them the least popular model (haven't heard of anyone ordering a blue sport band!)
Now what they're clearly dealing with is a backlash from retail employees who probably started with a post it saying "it's cool, we've got this - apple exec team" and now they're overwhelmed with countless unanswerable questions from customers.
Anyway no matter what happens it's damn fun to watch.
and where did the craigslist guy get the 15? If you buy it from craigslist I assume you will pay a premium?