Apple did not get it wrong. They got it right. They created a false demand for the product. I promise you that if the Apple Watch were available in store at launch with ample supply, it would not have been as big of a hit. Because it is hard to buy, people want it more. Nintendo ran this play for years and it worked well.
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Apple Watch Shipments Arriving to Apple Stores, In-Store Availability Appears Imminent
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Apple did not get it wrong. They got it right. They created a false demand for the product. I promise you that if the Apple Watch were available in store at launch with ample supply, it would not have been as big of a hit. Because it is hard to buy, people want it more. Nintendo ran this play for years and it worked well.
Did you miss all those articles about why Watch production hit quite a few snags at the start?
Yeah, they were just like this article here. Based on rumor and/or conjecture. For that matter, Apple has not even released the sales numbers of their watch yet. This has also just been rumor/conjecture....
The fact that this article here has only had 70 some comments all day shows how many/few people care about this....
I wonder if they started with a bulky version so that each release could be thinner and thinner.
I think they totally misjudged the demand, as did everyone else. I posted a while back that the watch is basically like the iPad 1 in that its utility was totally questionable to the vast majority of people.
It took almost 5 months for iPad 1 supplies to stabilize to 3-5 day shipping. Certain models of Apple Watch are almost there now, so they've ramped up a lot better. Some items are frustratingly difficult to get, like modern buckles.
From Apple's point of view, they'd rather be conservative than have a few billion dollars worth of inventory that they have to write off, which is what happened to the Surface 1.
It took almost 5 months for iPad 1 supplies to stabilize to 3-5 day shipping. Certain models of Apple Watch are almost there now, so they've ramped up a lot better. Some items are frustratingly difficult to get, like modern buckles.
From Apple's point of view, they'd rather be conservative than have a few billion dollars worth of inventory that they have to write off, which is what happened to the Surface 1.
No! Do you understand how daunting it would be to attempt to manage production, distribution and inventory management with 10'different models which each have an additional 6 band options? They had virtually no data to support demand estimates for each model, size, band combination.
Not to mention production, yield issues.
Regardless, early sales indicate it's another hit. I love mine and glad I overcame my skeptic's view of it.
I've had one for two weeks, and I'm hooked. I waffled on the announcement, coming out, and then to the ordering.
Since I have one now, I'm glad I did it. The name of the game for the watch is convenience.
Enjoy your Note and incredible LG watch!
LG may sell an imperceptible fraction of Apple Watch sales. That's how many care about LG.
This has been nothing short of a disaster. You cant really PR spin this as a good launch. Whats worse is the delays let the competition come out with newer fast better battery products around the same time frame. The Moto 360 2.0 is around the corner, The huawei watch etc. I love apple stuff but this was an epic failure. This was such a failure that Apple PR had to go on the record to say the iphone 6s launch will be nothing like this. You can order online or physically go to the store and get your iPhone. This launch will be a case study in business schools on what not to do.
You can already listen to music on the watch; it was one of the main selling point. Seriously. Do you know what you're talking about?
Also, you can, even on a different WIFI network away from your phone, "query Siri, for example, send and receive texts, and send/receive drawings and tap patterns to other watch owners. That’s impressive", says Yahoo! Tech's David Pogue,. With watch OS 2 you will be able to do even more.
Available to buy in store in the UK from tomorrow. I was in the Applestore earlier today in Cardiff, and asked one of the members of staff when they would be available to buy. He said tomorrow, and that the shipments had already arrived. He did caution they'd mostly received 38mm watches though, but said shipments were arriving daily
MR member since 2010.
Highly doubt you were skeptical about the Apple Watch.
Good spin attempt.
Interesting... Thanks for the tip. I may wait until I get confirmation from an Apple Store here in Paris before canceling the order i just placed today..
I do thanks. But as I said, I also have a iphone 6+, albeit it is not getting as much use right now as my Note. People need to keep an open mind here. Everyone gets so brand loyal it is nuts. Like I said, I am interested in the Apple watch. I want to get it and check it out. Waiting for it to be available in store to do so though. I am sure Apple has sold a lot of watches, probably way more than LG. Most people don't even know about the LG Gwatch R. They don't advertise it. But I am also sure that Apple has not sold nearly as much as some of these estimates have stated. It should be very telling that they did not announce the sales during WWDC. Just my thought.
Indeed, and why only idiots would sell things in this manner.
I have been saying this for months now, and all I have said has been proved correct that this was and is a stupid way to sell a product.
You have 3 cakes you sell. Milk chocolate, Plain chocolate and White chocolate.
Each of these cakes, can have 6 different colored ribbons that go around the cakes.
What companies do, and anyone with a tiny bit of sense does is ship the 3 different cakes to the stores without ribbons on them.
Then you ship many many box's of cheap ribbons.
When a customer comes along to buy one, they select which of the 3 cake types they want (that you have in your store room) and then they tell you which colour ribbon they would like around the cake.
At that moment, and not before, you go to the store room and attach the ribbon to the cake, and sell the the customer.
Only a moron of a company would ship cakes with ribbons on direct from the factory as that would mean a stock/logistical nightmare and slow everything down.
The BUY NOW link is broken. Me thinks they updating. They just updated the IOS Apple Store app too.
http://store.apple.com/xc/watch
http://store.apple.com/xc/watch
Well, that's how most businesses work, so I suggest I would do well, and you would do badly.
I guess if you were selling ice creams, you would not ship plain cones to the shop and separate tubs of ice-cream as they do. But do as Apple does, and take orders and put the customers ice cream on the cone at the factory and shop it complete.
Or perhaps take burger orders, and make the ones with cheese, without cheese, with lettuce, no lettuce at the factory.
Really you are so silly
Well lol...not really. The 2007 iPhone launch was plagued by incomplete development, not improper distribution. It took 5 months after Macworld in January to release the original iPhone, but Apple had plenty of stock upon release.
I bought my original iPhone on launch day, waited in line in Boulder, CO at the AT&T store for hours and then found out Apple had plentiful stock. And here's the real kicker...it was available in store, at launch back when standing in line for Apple products was part of the cult.
If Apple lowers the price on this watch like they did the original iPhone they are gonna lose A LOT of people. If I remember right Apple had to give original purchasers a $100 credit when they pulled that price drop nonsense.
I'll admit I'm the first one to attack Angela A for her time at Apple but it's because I think she and some of these other new executives are stripping Apple of what made Apple. Hype is great, but don't generate irritation because you supposedly "can't keep up with demand". It's an amateur move, plain and simple.