Apple Watch Now Available From B&H Photo

[pat500000]

Even though I HATE windows and swore I would never buy a windows computer for my personal use, the new Surface laptop looks good. Who knows what it will be like when it actually comes out..

I love OSX so I don't think I would jump because MS finally fixed there operating system.. but it's tempting.. and throw in Hololens in the mix (again, who knows what Hololens will be like when comes out.. but it looks awesome!)

Would it help if you have two different os? or I mean...getting parallel to do that bootcamp for window?

 

[MarsViolet]

I can't wait to hear people explain again about how ever increasing retail presence is an indicator that the Apple Watch is doomed.

It’s simpler than that. The Apple Watch is doomed because nobody is buying it.

 

[MarsViolet]

Agreed. However, I suspect it is the money grubbers / social engineers behind Tim Cook (no, not in that way) who are pulling the strings -- and his strings as well.

Watch X-Files much?

 

[ActionableMango]

It’s simpler than that. The Apple Watch is doomed because nobody is buying it.

I could easily believe that is true.

But my point is that ever increasing retail presence is not proof of failure. People say this every time some new store picks up AW. Successes also have ever increasing retail presence.

 

[Duane Martin]

If B&H is selling them it means that Apple is liquidating them. All these retail outlets are likely getting the Apple Watches at very low wholesale prices. I think it's obvious that Apple seriously over-manufactured the Apple Watch and is now in damage control mode. The Apple Watch was not just a flop, but a debacle!

Wow, what planet do you live on? The Apple Watch has been at least the 2nd best 1st Gen product release in the 1st quarter Apple has ever had, beating out both the iPhone and iPod, just behind the iPad despite having fewer weeks on sale.

Definitely going to you for predictions from now on, opposite-reality-boy!

 

[Duane Martin]

It’s simpler than that. The Apple Watch is doomed because nobody is buying it.

Actually, people are buying them. That's why retailers are selling them.

 

[henryp]

For those unfamiliar with B&H, they are a fantastic NYC photography equipment store. They have excellent prices and shipping on camera stuff (better than Amazon usually) and I've gotten a tripod and several lenses from them over the years ordering online. I've been meaning to stop in there the next time I get to NYC, ...

Thank you. Much appreciated.

 

[MarsViolet]

I could easily believe that is true.

But my point is that ever increasing retail presence is not proof of failure. People say this every time some new store picks up AW. Successes also have ever increasing retail presence.

Right. Increased retail presence could be evidence of either reality — success or failure. Success if it’s selling well. Failure if it’s not (channel dumping). Since it’s not selling well, I conclude that the increased retail presence is further evidence of failure.

But Apple’s mum. They’d be bragging about sales if this were some home run product. And I’ve yet to see anyone in the wild wearing an Apple Watch, and I live in “rich town” where there are Teslas in every public parking lot and everyone had an iPhone on day one.

 

[Mac 128]

Wow, what planet do you live on? The Apple Watch has been at least the 2nd best 1st Gen product release in the 1st quarter Apple has ever had, beating out both the iPhone and iPod, just behind the iPad despite having fewer weeks on sale.

So Apple has sent you their internal sales figures?

 

[emori]

Apples marketing doesn't match the retailers it's selling the Apple Watch at.

They're charging high end prices but selling at places like target?

Like it or not, it's still a gimmick, a toy, not a jewellery as it was intended.

From the last, just the price.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Like it or not, it's still a gimmick, a toy, not a jewellery as it was intended.

From the last, just the price.

I think this about the whole smartwatch category in general although apple did try to put out a nicer one.

 

[Mums]

Wow, what planet do you live on? The Apple Watch has been at least the 2nd best 1st Gen product release in the 1st quarter Apple has ever had, beating out both the iPhone and iPod, just behind the iPad despite having fewer weeks on sale.

Definitely going to you for predictions from now on, opposite-reality-boy!

Being half Canadian myself, I'll let slide your calling me "boy", as I understand your corny sense of what you think is "humor".

 

[Mums]

Apple Watch 1.0 may or may not be a flop. We don't know what sales are, nor do we know what expectations were. But ever-increasing retail presence among existing Apple partners is not evidence of failure.

If the ever-increasing retail presence was more like Apple Watches in bargain bins at the corner drug store, then I'd be inclined to agree with your theory. But that's not what we are seeing. All of these places so far (Target, Best Buy, B&H) also sell iPods, iPhones, and iPads, and some sell Macs too. They didn't used to sell these things, so when iPhone, iPad, Macs, etc. increased their retail presence at these stores, did you think those were doomed too?

In particular, Best Buy did a trial run in a limited number of stores to see how it would go. Months later, the trial ended and they decided to put Apple Watches in all BB locations. This doesn't make any sense if the Apple Watch was a failure. BB would be using up valuable retail space in all their stores for something that didn't sell during the trial?

Granted, it's possible. In a desperate move, Apple could be giving a sweetheart deal on wholesale pricing to the retailers such that the retailers would be making a huge profit on the watches even with low sales volume. But we don't have any evidence of that.

Anyway, my point is that retail expansion alone is not proof of failure. Wildly successful products also have ever increasing retail presence.

Good points, thank you for your reasoned response.

 

[Mums]

Watch X-Files much?

Watch mainstream news much?

 

[Mums]

You are well informed indeed...

Fact is within the inner circles of large mass market e-tailers like B&H, a very old, savvy yet particularly modern sales outlet, they held out until Apple had no choice but to acquiesce.

I choose to avoid calling the watch a flop simply because as we're witnessing Apples sheer influence and raw power over certain consumers is awe inspiring. An advantage not seen from any other company on the world stage.

Apple starts the rumor, manages it like a world class athlete manages his energy, they launch to massive world wide attention, brag about sales, then spend hundreds of millions in a barrage of advertising no other company could match.

Steve Jobs has passed on, but his true legacy as I see it wasn't as a visionary even though he took credit for that. Steve Jobs was the worlds best Salesman. The "system" he put in place, lives on and continues to serve Apple very well.

Why thank you! I've been to B&H many times, and what they are about is all too obvious. So it gave me a clue. That and Target getting the Apple Watch.

 

[Mums]

Not at all. B&H is my go to for audio equipment. Others for camera equipment. That is, when we already know what we want. No Sales Tax outside NY, with free shipping. Basically they are a quality electronics discount operation for the rest of the US. And that's what this is -- a place for people to order the Watch with the rest of their products when people know exactly what they want already. I doubt they expect to be a primary supplier of Watches in their NYC store/showroom.

So this move makes sense to me. Target much less so, especially since it's already available at Best Buy, Sprint & T-Mobile, to view. Offering it to more retailers online turns the brick and mortar stores into showrooms for people in areas that don't have access to the Apple Stores, and undercuts everybody. Frankly I don't know why Target would agree to sell it considering how much more expensive it is than any other watch they sell retail, and the greater need for security due to it's size and cost. And as a showroom, Target is surely going to be the worst experience any potential customer could ever have -- bad enough to turn someone off the watch I'd wager.

Yes I am a regular in-shop B&H customer as well. So you understand my reasoning for suspecting that they are getting very low wholesale prices.

 

[maxsix]

It’s simpler than that. The Apple Watch is doomed because nobody is buying it.

I don't believe it's "doomed" simply because Apple is a massive ultra wealthy company now. They can keep anything alive to save face, to save the image they've created in customers minds that everything they do turns to gold.

That Apple is indeed "Magical & Revolutionary"

 

[MarsViolet]

I don't believe it's "doomed" simply because Apple is a massive ultra wealthy company now. They can keep anything alive to save face, to save the image they've created in customers minds that everything they do turns to gold.

They could but they won’t. They didn’t keep the G4 Cube alive.

 

[Duane Martin]

Yes I am a regular in-shop B&H customer as well. So you understand my reasoning for suspecting that they are getting very low wholesale prices.

And yet, reality once again calls you out as not particularly good at "reasoning". Sucks when reality bites, eh?

BTW, it's spelled "humour".

 

[Mac 128]

They could but they won’t. They didn’t keep the G4 Cube alive.

Why do people keep saying the watch is doomed? They've already sold around 5 million in the first 3 months. We know it doesn't cost that much to build, and people seem to be buying it. It's not like the Cube which was expensive to make without defects, and ultimately was better served by the better designed mini, while simultaneously consumers moved largely to laptops. Even if there's never one watch sold for every iPhone sold, that doesn't mean there's not a reason to keep it alive forever. It does some very cool and useful things. As long as enough people find this to be true, they'll still make it. Just like the TV, just like the iPod which they should have probably killed years ago. The only way they would stop making the watch is if those first 5 million sales are all they ever sell, but anecdotal evidence alone would suggest otherwise. Anyway, this will all be a moot point come next week when Apple announces their 4th quarter results and the other category either sees a marginal increase or a surge over last quarter and year over year.

 

[MarsViolet]

Why do people keep saying the watch is doomed? They've already sold around 5 million in the first 3 months. We know it doesn't cost that much to build, and people seem to be buying it. It's not like the Cube which was expensive to make without defects, and ultimately was better served by the better designed mini, while simultaneously consumers moved largely to laptops. Even if there's never one watch sold for every iPhone sold, that doesn't mean there's not a reason to keep it alive forever. It does some very cool and useful things. As long as enough people find this to be true, they'll still make it. Just like the TV, just like the iPod which they should have probably killed years ago. The only way they would stop making the watch is if those first 5 million sales are all they ever sell, but anecdotal evidence alone would suggest otherwise. Anyway, this will all be a moot point come next week when Apple announces their 4th quarter results and the other category either sees a marginal increase or a surge over last quarter and year over year.

So far as I know, Apple hasn’t explicitly broken down sales numbers for the Watch, but it’s been out for six months and I’ve seen only one in the wild. That’s it. By contrast, it seemed like everyone I knew had an iPhone within days of the initial launch.

 

[MarsViolet]

Actually, people are buying them. That's why retailers are selling them.

Nah. If it were selling well, Apple would be bragging about it, and bloggers wouldn’t have to write desperate, speculative articles such as this.