Kohls and Vera wang are not the same thing as the Watch and Target.
A customer buying an Watch at any of those High end stores, all the way down to Best Buy and TMobile are going to get a better customer experience than at Target, a retailer they don't actually need, as it tends to duplicate the other outlets in the same markets. And now they are discounting them too with the purchase of an iPhone. You can spin this any way you want, but just like the original iPhone, the watch is not selling as well as Apple hoped, so they are pulling out the stops. I don't believe Target was ever part of the distribution plan, especially considering how Apple positioned the watch, the most personal product they've ever made, at its own stores following the launch. Hermes was a project set in motion well over a year ago, when Apple was giving away solid gold link watches to Karl Lagerfeld. And now they're discounting them at target. Since neither of us are likely ever to get the proof well need to confirm either of our positions, we might as well not escalate this. But, the watch has definitely fallen from Apple's original positioning since the launch. Of course Apple has to sell millions of them, and I always expected it to be sold much more widely than the boutiques, but Target never crossed my mind as a possibility. Heck I'd even take Khols over Target, at least you'd get a good customer experience there. And I wasn't alone. Where's Macy's or Nordstrom? Where's the mom and pop, or even chain jewelry stores? How is the most personal device Apple ever made being sold any differently than any other product which demo units are left to languish in unattended isles at Target? Nah, Apple never intended to sell this at Target, they don't even take Pay (so clearly they needed them to carry the watch more than they needed them to accept Pay)! They may not have even intended to sell it at Best Buy, but that one makes slightly more sense.