The original point was dumb and even an extra 100,000 watches wouldn't have made much of a difference, but the only difference between the try-on watches and a real watch is the software they're running. They're just in a demo mode.
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Apple Watch Orders Will Remain Exclusively Online Through May, Deliveries Begin April 24
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The original point was dumb and even an extra 100,000 watches wouldn't have made much of a difference, but the only difference between the try-on watches and a real watch is the software they're running. They're just in a demo mode.
ITT: Manufacturing and supply chain experts telling it like it is with no data or knowledge to back up their claims.
Also, blaming a retail head for a product constraint issue.
I love the Internet.
Also, blaming a retail head for a product constraint issue.
I love the Internet.
Not awful in the grand scheme of things all things possible,but man that wouldn't be cool. Now,a simple sign on the front of the door starting Monday let's say,would be nice.
Just because she launched products for other companies, doesn't mean she can do anything. This is her first APPLE launch - which is a different beast entirely. And she has messed this up. She IS way over her head on this one.
She thought 'Let's do a world-wide launch - nothing wrong with that!' - Yes there is, more watches sold than yo thought.
She thought 'Let's have try-on appointments before you buy' - wrong. NOBODY could do a try-on appointment before they bought, except those in Australia. And why did Australia get to try before the U.S.? Weird.
.... and so on... so many mistakes...
My guess is that they definitely ran into manufacturing problems early on and just weren't able to make enough to have as big of a launch as they liked. That has nothing to do with Arendt.
Maybe Apple took orders before manufacturing the watches, just to see what sells? They have the capacity to build x number of watches in time for April 24 delivery and these sold out immediately. Sell them before you build them. I highly doubt they have anywhere near the manufacturing capacity for the watch as they do for the iPhone. They probably didn't tool up to build 100 million watches for the initial run when they did not how and what would sell. Just my thoughts.
Yes, it does.
She should be monitoring the manufacturing... to know how many watches will be available on launch day, and change the launch based on this information.
What matters is that a lot of people are not happy at the delays and not being able to buy this in stores until late summer. That should be enough to tell Apple they've done something wrong with this launch.
The retail head should get blame for the not having try ons prior to the preorder date and not properly communicating how the watch will be available.
99.9% of Apple fans don;t read all this stuff like we do. They are clueless to these press releases.
It's a complicated launch, so many SKUs, in multiple countries at once, it would be tough for any company to pull this off without a few hitches.
Crap, I was going to make a try-on appointment for May 18th as I'll be near an Apple Store then. Also figured by then the hype would have died down and I could pick one up in-store. Guess not. Apple hasn't had a new product launch on this kind of scale before and I guess they didn't properly prepare for it.
I've found out I can get money at work for doing a health screening and joining some healthy living programs that use fitness trackers, so basically I can get the Apple Watch for mostly free. So I've hopped off the fence and am more seriously considering one. Is it possible that I could order it online now, and it won't likely ship until after my appointment in a month, and if I change my mind at the appointment I could change my order? I know it would push the order back, I just don't know if you can change it or if other people are considering the same after their appointment? I guess worst-case is that I could return it, but I don't want to be one of those people. I also don't like that everyone's order says June delivery, but some Apple execs said that they might arrive sooner than that, which messes up my potential plan. But I don't want to order it on May 18th or I might not get it until summer is halfway over, lol.
I've found out I can get money at work for doing a health screening and joining some healthy living programs that use fitness trackers, so basically I can get the Apple Watch for mostly free. So I've hopped off the fence and am more seriously considering one. Is it possible that I could order it online now, and it won't likely ship until after my appointment in a month, and if I change my mind at the appointment I could change my order? I know it would push the order back, I just don't know if you can change it or if other people are considering the same after their appointment? I guess worst-case is that I could return it, but I don't want to be one of those people. I also don't like that everyone's order says June delivery, but some Apple execs said that they might arrive sooner than that, which messes up my potential plan. But I don't want to order it on May 18th or I might not get it until summer is halfway over, lol.
They don't even have demo stock yet
I played around with a new Macbook last Friday. What are you talking about?
They didnt even address the whole Best Buy selling the MacBooks but the Apple Store is not fiasco.
You're right. Microsoft invested the hell out of production for their Surface and Zune launches. How did that work out for them?
"A lot of people"? What's your source for that? Posts on MacRumors or other rumor sites? That's a small fraction of Apple's customer base.
I guarantee that she doesn't have the power to change the launch date. She was given the date and told to get the stores ready, and she's been doing what she can with what she's been given.
This couldn't possibly be because they misjudged demand. A company like Apple is a well tuned machine. There is a calculated reason for doing online only sales in the beginning. I honestly can't think of why, but clearly they were considering something in doing this.
EDIT: actually, now that I think about it, they may have known that despite all the hype they've tried to create, demand will be underwhelming. And what better way to demonstrate a lack of demand than a lack of lines at Apple stores. By going online only, they can still claim to be doing very well without having to deal with very obvious signs of a lack of demand.
They're getting plenty of attention now.
I guess I might be the only one in the universe who thinks this way, but: WHY do people feel the lines are so special? Yeah, I did it, back when the iPhone 3G came out. And the iPad 2. After that, I was done.
The lines are a waste of time. You sit there all day, sometimes multiple days, with no guarantee you'll walk away with anything. Meanwhile, you get to watch these suspiciously-familiar people walking out, one by one, with bags of however-many new iDevices they were allowed to buy that day, only to fence them on eBay or give to the guy around the corner who will pay them cash and them them to whichever country doesn't have them on sale yet.
No thanks. I'll order online, have some certainty when it'll arrive, and I'll get to keep my vacation days for something more meaningful (because you know, I actually have a job).
As for Ahrendts: She's doing a great job with the hand she's been dealt. I actually think this was done SPECIFICALLY to thwart scalpers, and if that's the case, my hat's off to her for that.
It's a freakin' watch. Get over it.
It's a new product, fraught with engineering challenges, manufacturing challenges, and a previously-unknown demand curve. I'm pretty sure that Apple and its partners are making the watches as fast as they possibly can, short of outright bringing out the whips and resorting to unabashed slave labor.
When yours arrives, enjoy it, and be aware that it was assembled by people who aren't paid enough to afford to buy one... because that was the only way Apple could make as many as they did.
Can we fire her now please?
This and the MacBook launch have been possibly the worst product launches from Apple in a good number of years.
This and the MacBook launch have been possibly the worst product launches from Apple in a good number of years.
Actually, not having try ons prior to the preorder date seems perfectly reasonable. Get people to buy something on impulse. If they try it, you give them the opportunity to think about it and deliberate on whether or not they even need it.
And how did they fail to communicate how the watch will be available? It's available online only. The reason we even know that is because they communicated that fairly clearly.
See I'm not one to line up for product launches so I'm not sure the logistics. I did lineup for the original iPad launch and there were no apple employees around until around an hour before store open and there weren't any rope lines or anything either. I'm sure things have changed in the last 5 years but for that launch there were hundreds of folks lined up before we saw any apple employees.
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It's part of that "the future" often being slung around here more and more.
I often see Best Buy spun as the Ecommerce AV stores showroom (people try things out at Best Buy, then go order them on some website). Model that out to "the future" and it could mean much smaller Apple stores to see and touch products while leaving the warehousing (and ordering) to online/distant sources.
I don't love the idea myself but if you believe this launch is a big success, apparently the new way of launching Apple products WORKED... (conceptually) warehousing in "the cloud" if you will (another often slung piece of "the future"). Smaller, demo-only stores would mean lower retail costs, less employees to pay, less need to pay up for prime retail spaces and so on. Instead of "zero sense", it may be "less cents", as in a way to still have a "successful" launch without the traditional costs of Apple launches.
While I am not a whole market- just one individual- I often visit an Apple store to look at and try new things, then order from home later. The last time I actually bought something from an Apple store, it was a repair. The time before that? A repair. Personally, I own a lot of Apple hardware but I can't remember buying any of it at an Apple retail store.
This may have been said already but hopefully this means that they will get through the majority of the preorders prior to April 24th. So anyone ordering before then will get their watch sometime between April 24th and the end of May.