I hope Apple Guy is right! I know I have seen shipping times sometimes change, it's been seen with the iphone where people get it sooner than expected.
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Apple Watch Pre-Order Shipping Estimates Slipping Rapidly to 4-6 Weeks or Later
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I hope Apple Guy is right! I know I have seen shipping times sometimes change, it's been seen with the iphone where people get it sooner than expected.
True but the thing I've always noticed with this is that it is random, it's not by the time of order. Some one who ordered say this morning got a June release might be moved to April 24th but someone who ordered 10 minutes after the preorders went live and got a June release will still be stuck there. That's the only thing I never understood with Apple's preorder system. It should be by the time you preordered aka waited in line not when the system gets to your order.
I have no idea how you managed to bag that. The leaked predictions were already point towards 4-6 week deliveries, the store finally loaded on my phone and macbook at the same time (8:05) and immediately the delivery times were into June ?
Needless to say I didn't hesitate, SS Space Grey Link Bracelet 42mm ordered at 8:06 with Apple Care via the store site, email states delivery of sometime in June.
I ordered the same watch at 12:02, which was about 30 seconds at most after the store went live, and I got 4-6 weeks. Obviously they don't have any stock available yet.
Thanks for the thoughtful post, and yes, I agree on the general tenets you outlined (I should, it's pretty standard marketing guidance
)However, there are other overriding business principals operating in the context of Apple, that I'd suggest are more significant drivers vs. attempting to sandbag inventory to artificially create the scenario you described so well.
At the very least (as someone else pointed out), they _might_ have gone a little light on initial inventory with this being a new category (that I'd call "optional"), and _if_ there's a passive effect of positive marketing, I'm sure the executives at Apple aren't unhappy about it.
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That actually makes me feel better (sorry
) , that waking up an hour earlier, wouldn't have made much difference, and heck, would've probably just made it frustrating. As it was, I did my ordering thing, came back to bed with my honey, and we'll get them, when we get them 
(side note: I'm not stalking you this morning
I had the idea of "Who wears a watch?" in my head on a recent trip to SF, just kind of idling in the background from all the discussion - almost everyone we met, both casually and biz related wore a watch. Major players in the entertainment space, game designers, devs, artists - younger folks in their mid/late 20's, older guys (like yours truly) in their, *ahem*, 40s and up.
I asked a few - including the folks not unlike myself who were wearing, call them, "not inexpensive" watches - their perspective on the Apple Watch, a few were quick to say it would replace their <brand> as their daily driver.
Just thought it was an interesting anecdote, not meant as some kind of legit statistically analysis
Gruber had a point that folks who do not wear watches don't actually notice folks who do wear watches or that they have a watch on. So you have people coming here saying "Nobody wears a watch." But if you actually look around, the exact opposite is actually the case, at least around men. Most men wear a watch. Women less so because they are wearing changed up bracelets on their wrists, but women also wear watches (I just don't think it is a majority).
I suspect wearing a smartwatch is going to be very useful. Apple has attempted to make their watch as fashionable as they can, but it is still going to be much less attractive than the "not inexpensive" watch that is currently on my wrist (where it has resided for most of every day for the last 6 or 7 years). I expect to get a performance advantage for a fashion demerit when/if I switch to the Apple Watch.
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I think they weigh the risk of having too much of a flop product. But since the odds of the Apple Watch being a flop are so low, I doubt that was too much of a concern outside of the Edition version.
I don't believe they control to get scarcity, but I do agree with you that scarcity has a silver lining that they factor in. Mainly the supply issues are probably due to them wanting to control quality and rejecting huge percentages of the watches for failing quality standards. Also they probably continue to tweak the finer points of manufacturing process and design (stuff like the exact consistency of the glue holding down the watch battery). Because of these tweaks, the final manufacturing and assembly lines may not have been turned on "full blast" until just recently. Heck, they might not be running at full speed even now.
But no, Apple does not want to long be in a situation where they can't service walk in shoppers wanting a watch. That is a ridiculous lost opportunity if they can't meet demand in a month or two.
I woke up at 2:59 AM EST (don't hate), went on the Apple Store app, and got the message of "we'll be back later". I checked again until 3:01 AM when the shop opened again. I immediately bought 2 (in two separate orders). However, it says that my delivery will be May 13 - 27. How can this be?! Did their whole stock sell out in literally 3 minutes?!
Sure seems like it. Would really suck if they are out of stock 'til July... a lot of money to leave on the table.
Seems that way. It also seems pretty certain they didn't have alot of stock to begin with for any version - which goes along with just wanting to do everything online (they knew they didn't have enough stock to move the watch out into the stores for a traditional launch and they put the best face on it).
Not sure of anyone cares
I just spoke with Apple Support. Spoke with Athena here is some snippets of the conversation
https://twitter.com/noahclark84/status/586590448916926466
Most likely whatever the confirm email says, is when you get it.
There will be no in-store pickup until all preorders have been filled, then you can order online and pick-up in store.
I just spoke with Apple Support. Spoke with Athena here is some snippets of the conversation
https://twitter.com/noahclark84/status/586590448916926466
Most likely whatever the confirm email says, is when you get it.
There will be no in-store pickup until all preorders have been filled, then you can order online and pick-up in store.
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I haven't gotten answer to that on several different blogs, and I don't think anyone got anything less than the "two week window."
I'd be this is a bit manufactured to tweak sales. I'll guarantee this - Apple's fiscal quarter ends at the end of June. Anybody and everybody who wants a watch will have one well before the end of the quarter.
I'd also bet that refrubs will be available shortly after the quarter ends...
I'd also bet that refrubs will be available shortly after the quarter ends...
I don't think there will refurbs on the Apple Watch, at least not until V2 is out for sale. This is a wearable, so hygiene laws will get involved - they'll have to have entirely new bands (no cost on sport bands, but a higher ticket item on others) and a serious antibacterial scrubbing. The obvious lack of supply will force them to keep the early returns as warranty replacement units. Just not going to happen that fast.
By refurb - I mean Apple's secondary supply chain. Just a new watch in a brown box at a price cheaper than retail. It's Apples way of having a sale without having a sale...
That is crazy! Either their stock is TINY or people are ordering the watches faster than any other release. Or both. I woke up at midnight to order the iPhone 6 and I got it on the release day. I even surfed the store for a bit before purchasing.
I ordered a 3rd watch for my mom (she's not very computer savvy) and she's getting her's in June. Damn!
Doesn't look too bad to be fair, I'd imagine the black sport looks even better..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afX-Y1e7_5A
This was exactly the time for us when the online store went live at 3:11 AM EST.
That's what I am waiting - will pickup the Sport gray for 249-279 on refurb
So folks keep returning them
We also forget about something else in all of this...what if there's an issue with the watch and that didn't get caught and it cannot be fixed with software? For any company it sucks so much to have to recall millions of something PLUS whatever is sitting in a warehouse waiting to sell. So not only are you losing money on inventories sitting in warehouses, but also recalling all of that back and fixing the issue(s). Imagine 6-10 million Apple Watches sitting in a warehouse waiting to be shipped to a customer and all of a sudden a major hardware issue has come up like say the supplier of sensors had a bad batch that didn't get caught in time. Apple would have to have all 6-10 million watches shipped back and either scrapped or repaired. Thats a TON of lost money. Car manufacturers go through this all the time which is one of many reasons why its bad to have lots of unsold inventories of anything just sitting.
I'm sorry some of you wanted an Apple Watch and want it now, but its just not how its works. It didn't matter if Steve Jobs was at the helm, or Tim Cook. This has always happened with Apple products (Macs and iOS devices) and always will if there's enough demand for something.
Apple doesn't need to create hype for a product...the products they sell do that all by themselves. The sales numbers tell the stories and it doesn't matter if its 6 million pre-orders or 60 million...either way its lightyears ahead of its competition and really at the end of the day thats all that counts.
Sure, mine was 24th on web order confirmation... Then may 12th on my email. Was 8.04am (UK) order so 3mins in and email came straight through,
The verge only demonstrated how useless they now are, nigel got schooled by an anchor in an interview proving he barely used the product he "reviewed" Funny that you hitched yourself to this perfunctory review; probably confirmation bias. You could have chosen instead a review like the new york time, which is pretty balanced, but no, you chose the clown car instead.