I would think as a senior vice president and member of the executive team, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook in charge of retail and online - she'd have a huge input as to where and how to sell the watch. Thats what she was hired for.
No country wants to be treated as a second class citizen by Apple - ask Canada - but Apple can't release a product to every single country in the world at the same time. I was using China as an example because of their size. If Apple doesn't have enough product for the US - its home country - then they need to limit availability around the world until they can catch up.
This launch is highly confusing - see it two weeks in a store with a reservation but not be able to buy it in the store and then have to place an order after you see it in the store - nobody walking into an apple store tomorrow is going to understand that convoluted sales procedure.
My prediction is she's not going to make it - Apple is known for simplicity and this watch, and the way its being sold, is the complete opposite of that.
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I have zero confidence in Apple's servers. Since 2007 they have never gotten a launch right.
Well you might be right about her not making it. And yes this launch does seem confusing. It will be interesting to see it in practice.
But one thing Apple does not want to do is to make China mad. Those rich government officials want to buy their status items. Apple not releasing products timely is China despite them being made there is a slap in the face that Apple should never do again. I think launching in China on day one is mission critical to keeping the gears of the supply chain properly greased.
As for the servers on launch day, I can't see the pre-orders being in the same ballpark as the iPhone 6 pre-orders. Maybe there will be some lag during the first hour, but that should be done. Now what watches are sold out and on delayed shipment during that period, I don't know. I know that even on iPhone 6 launch day, by the time east coast folks got up and logged in at 6 or 7 a.m. the servers were fine and completely caught up. It is really just that initial rush.
I'd guess Apple watch pre-orders will not be 1/5th of the iPhone 6 pre-orders. So there should be no problem.