Apple CEO Tim Cook: We're 'Working Hard' to Remedy Apple Watch Supply/Demand Imbalance

[rtdunham]

in response to "...Ordered minutes after midnight...." and every other post that says "ordered at 2:03" or 3:06 or whatever: Instead, please tell when your confirmation email from Apple is timed. All the rest is just rumor, like how big the fish you caught was, or how long that snake or alligator was, or how far you drove that new golf ball. Confirmation times are something we can all compare.

Confirmation time!

In that spirit: The confirmation email for my order for Apple Watch Sport 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band shows 3:17am (EST); my expected arrival date started at May 13-27 and remains there today. (I was charged for Apple Care days ago, which seems odd since the product won't ship until weeks later) I'm waiting on a band, too, and it's showing May expected arrival.

 

[Amado.sanchez]

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the notification soon and your watch before the estimate date.

I sure hope so

 

[max-man]

They need to work harder! It isn't right that my friend who ordered the exact same model as me (38mm Space Grey) but did it in store on the day AFTER preorders and has already received it when he wasn't supposed to get it til june. Yet I ordered at 3:02 am and was confirmed in an email at 3:04 am and it was pushed til May 13-May 27.

Where is my watch apple!!!!!

 

[hexcalibur]

In the mail

My confirmation email came in at 12:06 on the 10th (West Coast). It said "4-6 weeks delivery" with a mid-May to June 1 time frame.

Just got a shipping notification this afternoon. It should be here by Wednesday the 29th. Which is great, as I am looking forward to using it in place of my Garmin for a half-marathon this Sunday.

42mm Space Gray Sport with the black sports band.

All the best to the rest of you.

in response to "...Ordered minutes after midnight...." and every other post that says "ordered at 2:03" or 3:06 or whatever: Instead, please tell when your confirmation email from Apple is timed. All the rest is just rumor, like how big the fish you caught was, or how long that snake or alligator was, or how far you drove that new golf ball. Confirmation times are something we can all compare.

Confirmation time!

 

[Chcougar1]

My confirmation email came in at 12:06 on the 25th (West Coast). It said "4-6 weeks delivery" with a mid-May to June 1 time frame.

Just got a shipping notification this afternoon. It should be here by Wednesday the 29th. Which is great, as I am looking forward to using it in place of my Garmin for a half-marathon this Sunday.

42mm Space Gray Sport with the black sports band.

All the best to the rest of you.

12:06 on the 25th?

 

[hexcalibur]

12:06 on the 25th?

Ack! Typing too many numbers. Or maybe I confused the date with Christmas?

Anyway - thanks for pointing that out. I've edited my previous post for clarity. 12:06 AM on the 10th, yeah.

 

[thekeyring]

3,500 apple watch apps, 3,499 being junk

Which is the one you consider not junk?

 

[Dewey911]

Still nada here.

42 MM Sports Space Gray Black Band
Ordered minutes after midnight
5-13 / 5-27 ship date
Processing....

-Mike

Same exact thing here. This is my first post concerning what is appearing to be a cluster. Hopefully we see some moment very soon.

 

[McScooby]

I'm more pissed that the online store came up way after the app store app went live on the phone, had that not been the case, I'd probably have one in hand right now!

 

[Dwalls90]

With the pre-order period and the differing UPOD delivery times, it seems Apple is quickly changing production schedules to account for actual style selections by users. I mentioned this months ago in my post:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20756107/

The sheer variety of size, color of watch, and style of band, requires a well honed supply chain to initially make a large shift in preferred styles, to minimize time to supply-demand balance, and to minimize inventory time range.

Based on other lines they seem to be targeting inventory of 4-6 weeks to declare supply-demand balance.

Worldwide this could easily take till October, and in the USA at least early July.

Rocketman

Thank you for referencing your own post. Who would have thought that a company would adapt supply based on demand?

Cook said that it was difficult to gauge demand without a product in stores

and therein lies the problem....how does one explain opening sales of a product no one has experienced? A smarter and more Spock-like logical approach would have been to have had a week's worth of "try ons". If supplies were limited which they could have sort of gauged from the interest in try ons, they should have released the product in stores delaying the online launch until supply was more in line with demand. Those historically good natured people who chose to wait in line for a watch could get one. That would have made more sense that this ridiculous and elitist approach. Finally who ever trained the associates did a piss poor job as much of the information was inaccurate....the try ons were different in quality from store to store even associate to associate. Confusion reigned in many places. Angela must go.

Or they could have just had large amounts of inventory ready. Even if they made 500K of each style at launch (obviously being over dramatic with that exact figure), they would have definitely sold through that before the Apple Watch 2.

 

[Blacklabel34]

I'm more pissed that the online store came up way after the app store app went live on the phone, had that not been the case, I'd probably have one in hand right now!

Yeah, it seems this hasn't been brought up much. I wonder why?
I wasn't able to get the website to work until 12:09-10 am PST.
I ordered from my iMac because I figured that would be rock-solid, guess I thought wrong.

 

[01silver4]

Cook said that it was difficult to gauge demand without a product in stores

and therein lies the problem....how does one explain opening sales of a product no one has experienced? A smarter and more Spock-like logical approach would have been to have had a week's worth of "try ons". If supplies were limited which they could have sort of gauged from the interest in try ons, they should have released the product in stores delaying the online launch until supply was more in line with demand. Those historically good natured people who chose to wait in line for a watch could get one. That would have made more sense that this ridiculous and elitist approach. Finally who ever trained the associates did a piss poor job as much of the information was inaccurate....the try ons were different in quality from store to store even associate to associate. Confusion reigned in many places. Angela must go.

Agree! This whole thing is a mess for sure.

 

[flaw600]

The iPhone had zero third-party apps available at launch.

The SDK needed to create them was not released until iOS 2.0 came out. Perhaps Tim's thinking of the iPhone 3G launch.

That was MR paraphrasing w/o context. More than likely, Cook was referring to the iPhone App Store launch rather than the product launch itself.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Another reason Arendts said it's online sales only. Nobody can gauge the lack of interest by the nonexistent lines out the doors. And Apple can falsely claim being overwhelmed with orders.

 

[nyctravis]

Tim: work harder or communicate better. Pick one.

 

[Gameboy70]

I assume you're in the US? Us Europeans and the rest of the world other than NA and Australia/New Zealand have still been waiting even though we pre-ordered on the 10th.

Yep, US. I didn't realize the situation was so dire abroad. I'm wondering if ordering the Space Grey had anything to do with my fast fulfillment. Are you seeing shortages in all colors overseas?

 

[frumpy16]

I assume you're in the US? Us Europeans and the rest of the world other than NA and Australia/New Zealand have still been waiting even though we pre-ordered on the 10th.

Meh, Apple is a US company. I think it's perfectly appropriate for the US to get first dibs.

 

[blahblah100]

Not nearly as many as you would think. They were quick to announce selling over 300k iPads the first day it went on sale in 2010, the last time they released a new product. If the Watch sold anything significant, you could bet there would have been an official release already. They aren't saying because 1) sales are probably terrible and they don't want anyone to know so they can still create an illusion of far more demand then supply. 2) if they came out saying they only sold 100k but the wait is 4-6 weeks, it would make them look very incompetent. Its rumored the new MacBook only sold 50k the first weekend and they can't even get enough of the 1.2GHz to those who ordered one at launch. Things have really gone off the rails since Steve died.

https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/04/05Apple-Sells-Over-300-000-iPads-First-Day.html

Ultimately we do not know, though I would put my money on your theory.

If the numbers were impressive, they would have announced them.

 

[cdwilliams1]

The iPhone had zero third-party apps available at launch.

The SDK needed to create them was not released until iOS 2.0 came out. Perhaps Tim's thinking of the iPhone 3G launch.

Not true. Apple was pushing web based apps and saving them to the home screen. There was a whole apple site, pre app-store dedicated to showcasing these apps.

Here's an article looking back at it: http://m.imore.com/history-app-store-year-zero

 

[kdarling]

But how many did they sell...

More importantly for the next quarterly earnings report, how many can they deliver in time to be counted for this April to June quarter.

It's important because Apple does not count an online Apple Store sale as revenue until it's in the hands of the buyer.

This alone must have Cook pushing like heck to get as many delivered by the end of June as possible.

Which is A Good Thing for most of us who are waiting!

 

[iBlazed]

I ordered 2 days ago and my initial ship date was june. Now it says I will receive it between May 14-21

 

[basehart]

Yeah, it seems this hasn't been brought up much. I wonder why?
I wasn't able to get the website to work until 12:09-10 am PST.
I ordered from my iMac because I figured that would be rock-solid, guess I thought wrong.

Yeah same here. I had three separate browsers open, Opera, Firefox and Chrome and was refreshing each one until finally I got in at a round 5 mins after midnight. If I'd hav known all I had to do was launch the App Store on my phone....DOH

 

[ManzanaMan86]

"June" for the past 2 plus weeks? Thanks for being specific and precise! #supplygate

 

[Gizwizfrizz]

i never thought I would be so desperate for apple to take my money.

 

[Trius]

3,500 apple watch apps, 3,499 being junk

Which one is the good one?