Apple Watch In-Store Reservations Available Beginning April 10

[pjh]

Considering all the discussions about which band and watch combo people will be going for (which was Apples objective), I'm starting to wonder if the two will actually come in the same box when purchased. It would seem to make sense for the watch and band to be boxed individually, this would give them greater control and ability to meet demand.

Would be very strange if you wanted a watch with brown leather loop, but they only had blue, yet someone else wanted the watch in space black with blue leather loop, but they only had it in brown. You could always buy another band, but that seems an odd way to go about keeping people happy.

Maybe they'll load your chosen combination into a single box in store for you? Not sure why I'm thinking about this, but I can't sleep and it's better than counting sheep!

 

[doelcm82]

Considering all the discussions about which band and watch combo people will be going for (which was Apples objective), I'm starting to wonder if the two will actually come in the same box when purchased. It would seem to make sense for the watch and band to be boxed individually, this would give them greater control and ability to meet demand.

Would be very strange if you wanted a watch with brown leather loop, but they only had blue, yet someone else wanted the watch in space black with blue leather loop, but they only had it in brown. You could always buy another band, but that seems an odd way to go about keeping people happy.

Maybe they'll load your chosen combination into a single box in store for you? Not sure why I'm thinking about this, but I can't sleep and it's better than counting sheep!

It's a moot question at launch. If you walk into an Apple store knowing exactly what combination you want, you will be directed to place an order online. It won't be coming out of the store's on-hand inventory.

Once the initial demand has passed, stores may carry stock of the most popular combinations, so that most people can walk in and walk out with the one they want. But if you have more refined (or simply unusual) taste, you may still have to wait for for your special watch to be boxed up and sent to your home or to the store for you to pick up.

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Not much to read here lately if you're not interested in apple watch. It will probably go on for another couple of weeks.

There will also be reviews of the new MacBook. But don't worry. Soon we'll return to speculation about AppleTV and Apple's automotive project. Also drone videos of Apple's new headquarters.

 

[Tech198]

This will be no more traffic than an iPhone sale. I predict less traffic, although good on the first few days.. (since all of them will be Apple users)

There is no way it will be bigger and sell more (since you must have an iPhone in order to use one)...

And its kind of a gimmick........ "Buy a smart watch, but u can't use it to its full potential unless also have an iPhone to go along with it." Good for first time buyers.

Apple get get some Android users crossing over too. Like, every major Apple does.

 

[pjh]

It's a moot question at launch. If you walk into an Apple store knowing exactly what combination you want, you will be directed to place an order online. It won't be coming out of the store's on-hand inventory.

Once the initial demand has passed, stores may carry stock of the most popular combinations, so that most people can walk in and walk out with the one they want. But if you have more refined (or simply unusual) taste, you may still have to wait for for your special watch to be boxed up and sent to your home or to the store for you to pick up.

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There will also be reviews of the new MacBook. But don't worry. Soon we'll return to speculation about AppleTV and Apple's automotive project. Also drone videos of Apple's new headquarters.

Not necessarily. I think people will be pre-order before seeing the device in flesh and then book an appointment for viewing and pick-up. On viewing the devices they change their mid. This could result in stock being in the store that is no longer booked. I read somewhere on one of the apple training documents that staff should expect this. The customer will then be directed to the online store to reorder. The device will then be re-allocated. I'm sure with the general rush at launch they will still find someone willing to take that configuration, but having flexibility with the bands would seem sensible after the first wave has been fulfilled.

 

[Joesmith13245]

This is too confusing. Trying to explain this to my parents has been a nightmare.

I'm just going to tell them to use theirs phones to check time, make a call, make a payment, monitor health, listen to music, and text until Apple can straighten this out.

 

[mdelvecchio]

This is too confusing. Trying to explain this to my parents has been a nightmare.

I'm just going to tell them to use theirs phones to check time, make a call, make a payment, monitor health, listen to music, and text until Apple can straighten this out.

Straighten what out? I'm not confused in the slightest. But I wouldn't encourage my parents to buy one because it's a brand new product and I haven't been able to test it yet.

 

[phpmaven]

To me it sux because I want the SS Space Gray with Space Gray Link Band but for $600 or less... I see that Amazon now has many of the bands at half price for knock-offs but of course, the pictures look identical. I wonder if that is their own pictures or stolen from apple? I didn't see the Space Gray Link but they had the other link band for $224 and the Milanese for $75.

The band cost and not being able to get the SS Space Gray Watch without spending $500 for the band deserves to maybe get some bashing and complaints.

Speaking of bashing, the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was just tested for bending and it broke apart at 149 pounds and even shattered the screen while the iPhone 6 Plus bent at 176 pounds of force. I sure hope this doesn't start a whole new Bend Gate 2 because I thought it was stupid to make an issue out of the iPhone bending when people sat on it in the front or back pockets.

There's no SS Space Gray, it's Space Black.

 

[mdelvecchio]

I don't see any point in having a "smart watch", Android, Apple or MS, but I'm sure that fanboys and hipsters with more $$$ than brains will eat it up.

Well thank the gods you don't have the mental ability to imagine things other people like that you may not. Thanks for letting us know!

Also, $350 is less than the original 64gb iPod. Not big money.

 

[Carlanga]

This isn't on the Canadian site

It wouldn't because selfridges is a uk store.

There is a great tv drama about the store from bbc that I highly recommend.

 

[mdelvecchio]

To me it sux because I want the SS Space Gray with Space Gray Link Band but for $600 or less... I see that Amazon now has many of the bands at half price for knock-offs but of course, the pictures look identical. I wonder if that is their own pictures or stolen from apple? I didn't see the Space Gray Link but they had the other link band for $224 and the Milanese for $75.

The band cost and not being able to get the SS Space Gray Watch without spending $500 for the band deserves to maybe get some bashing and complaints.

Speaking of bashing, the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was just tested for bending and it broke apart at 149 pounds and even shattered the screen while the iPhone 6 Plus bent at 176 pounds of force. I sure hope this doesn't start a whole new Bend Gate 2 because I thought it was stupid to make an issue out of the iPhone bending when people sat on it in the front or back pockets.

It doesn't deserve bashing at all. A high quality link band costs $500 or more -- that's how watches work. If you want cheap that's fine but that doesn't mean things aren't going to cost what they normally cost. What you want to spend in a fantasy world has little bearing on reality.

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If only there were other successful watch sellers in the world that had a working business model that Apple could base their rollout on…

Or a successful smartphone company with insane demand for high quality offerings. If only...

 

[Tech198]

i doubt it will be a stampede, but then most Apple users remind of of everyone wanting the same movie ticket.

They don't want buy another ticket, they just want THAT one.

 

[Keirasplace]

This will be no more traffic than an iPhone sale. I predict less traffic, although good on the first few days.. (since all of them will be Apple users)

There is no way it will be bigger and sell more (since you must have an iPhone in order to use one)...

And its kind of a gimmick........ "Buy a smart watch, but u can't use it to its full potential unless also have an iPhone to go along with it." Good for first time buyers.

Apple get get some Android users crossing over too. Like, every major Apple does.

Wow, Sherlock, sell less than 75M in a quarter and not back ordered for months like the Iphone, well I guess so... If that's how success is judged... "only" selling selling 6-7M in the first quarter (10 times more than all Android Wear combined in the first 6 months) would be a "failure".

BTW, about 425M will have compatible phones by the end of 2015, that's not a small group of Apple users.

 

[JCT1212]

It wouldn't because selfridges is a uk store.

There is a great tv drama about the store from bbc that I highly recommend.

I mean where it says "reserve for April 24th". It only says "preorder April 10th"!

 

[malexandria]

Hmmm...This Site Needs ONE More Apple Watch Article

I think what this site is missing is coverage of the Apple Watch. It needs one more article.

 

[Keirasplace]

i doubt it will be a stampede, but then most Apple users remind of of everyone wanting the same movie ticket.

They don't want buy another ticket, they just want THAT one.

Your analogy is weird. Unless you mean a ticket for a particular screening.

In that case, it isn't surprising, they want the best seat at the best movie. Nothing surprising about that. If you have taste and money, that's how it goes usually.

 

[LukeBo]

Uhm. Quite a confusing situation for us Europeans.
After reading all the threads about pre-orders I reached the conclusion that reservations for pickup in store will be available but they won't be announced until the 10th.

It will be pretty much the same as with the iPhone 6 launch. Nobody knew of the reservation and pickup thing until pre-orders started.

These are the facts that lead me to think what I wrote:

- in Europe Apple suffers the black market problem more than in the US. Here is relatively easy to bring stuff out of national borders for selling it abroad. I witnessed a couple of "launch lines" crowded by pretty shady people. Apple definitely wants to counteract this phenomenon.

- there are rumors about no walk in purchases availability. If there will be no walk ins and no reservation pickups... Will the stores be empty on launch day?

- all the chats with Apple representatives published here have a same element in common: regardless the answer to the main question, they all recommended to come back to get further info after the beginning of pre-orders.

Imho, we'll be able to reserve and pickup our favorite Apple watch model at our favorite store as soon as pre-orders will start.

What do you think?

 

[nutjob]

And you'll hide your little head if it sells well. That's how it is. You sure are not going to stand here and eat your words. No. No sir. Not crow for nutty.

Well, seeing as I didn't actually mention sales, that seems unlikely (pro tip: read before you post).

It may sell well initially, but longer term this will be little more than a gimmicky toy.

My point is that the realities of how useful or advisable this product is will become clear once it starts being used by a lot of people.

So sorry to have an opinion contrary to the Apple dogma, pushed aggressively and mockingly by the true believers, but this product just doesn't make sense.

I look forward to being mocked by you again, in lieu of an actual argument.

 

[HenryDJP]

This will be no more traffic than an iPhone sale. I predict less traffic, although good on the first few days.. (since all of them will be Apple users)

There is no way it will be bigger and sell more (since you must have an iPhone in order to use one)...

And its kind of a gimmick........ "Buy a smart watch, but u can't use it to its full potential unless also have an iPhone to go along with it." Good for first time buyers.

Sounds like you truly want it to fail or you're psyching yourself up to believe that it will, while in the back of your mind you know that it won't.

Apple get get some Android users crossing over too. Like, every major Apple does.

Like every major Apple does? What does that mean??

 

[Shanghaichica]

It wouldn't because selfridges is a uk store.

There is a great tv drama about the store from bbc that I highly recommend.

It's ITV, but I agree it's a great show.

 

[charlituna]

Sounds good. I'm guessing that they will start at a "normal" opening time like 9:00am.

Most stores open at 10am and will remain that way. No change in hours for the watch.

That said, the time slots will fill up quickly. If people really want it on Day 1, shipping home is the best bet. The sale process will take longer than an iPhone transaction. If they have 10 employees handling sales and allocate 5-15 minutes for a try-on (averaging 10 minutes) that's about 60 an hour.

you have the basic gist but your numbers are off. It's more like 30 minutes from greet to done with basic set up for each Watch and Sport and an hour for Edition. Now Edition is only being done by select stores so we'll ignore them for now. And it's more like 10 employees handling all Watch actions while the rest handle non watch stuff. So TryOns, which are 15 minutes are in there also. 1-2 of those Watch staff will be excluded from the book at home to have walk in try on appts although the staffing isn't that strict. Any of ten will do any of the actions as needed. It's just that the system won't 'activate' two staffers worth of blocks until the morning of and then only have them visible to in store systems. Same way the Genius Bar works

 

[doelcm82]

Well, seeing as I didn't actually mention sales, that seems unlikely (pro tip: read before you post).

It may sell well initially, but longer term this will be little more than a gimmicky toy.

My point is that the realities of how useful or advisable this product is will become clear once it starts being used by a lot of people.

So sorry to have an opinion contrary to the Apple dogma, pushed aggressively and mockingly by the true believers, but this product just doesn't make sense.

I look forward to being mocked by you again, in lieu of an actual argument.

I agree. For the first five or six years, the Apple Watch will sell like hotcakes. Then it will taper off. Once it starts being used by a hundred million people or more, we'll be able to tell if it lives up its hype.

 

[Dave245]

Most stores open at 10am and will remain that way. No change in hours for the watch.



you have the basic gist but your numbers are off. It's more like 30 minutes from greet to done with basic set up for each Watch and Sport and an hour for Edition. Now Edition is only being done by select stores so we'll ignore them for now. And it's more like 10 employees handling all Watch actions while the rest handle non watch stuff. So TryOns, which are 15 minutes are in there also. 1-2 of those Watch staff will be excluded from the book at home to have walk in try on appts although the staffing isn't that strict. Any of ten will do any of the actions as needed. It's just that the system won't 'activate' two staffers worth of blocks until the morning of and then only have them visible to in store systems. Same way the Genius Bar works

Do you think they will be doing it where pre-orders are done on the 10th and we can select which store we want to pick up from on the 24th? We then go on the 24th to the chosen store and then try on the Watch we have reserved and pay, along with buying any additional bands we may want to purchase?

 

[darcyf]

Isn't it exacly what Express Checkout is? Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right, it is. Thanks for pointing that out as I had no idea. It's a setting you have to enable at least - and I think I'll leave mine off for now

 

[charlituna]

Do you think they will be doing it where pre-orders are done on the 10th and we can select which store we want to pick up from on the 24th? We then go on the 24th to the chosen store and then try on the Watch we have reserved and pay, along with buying any additional bands we may want to purchase?

The BF says they haven't been told when the reservations will start being bookable. Only that it's the only way to get one in store for the foreseeable future.

And yes the length of time in each slot is so that you can try it on if you haven't, pay and pair. And yes they should have additional bands to buy if you wish.

The only catch is that you can only reserve one model and if you decide you hate it you have to start over with reservations. They won't have set aside atock for you to just change your mind. Given that folks can book from home it's unlikely you would get lucky and what you decide you want is there unclaimed. Or you order for home delivery.

 

[mikecorp]

I wish

Apple would design also robotic vacuum cleaners. i'm so fed up with crappy irobot