Apple Watch Shipments Arriving to Apple Stores, In-Store Availability Appears Imminent

[Jschultz]

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

I'm surprised most people have never heard of MTO/BTO (make-to-order/build-to-order) before. It is pretty much THE preferred method for high variability, low volume production/sales. Dell is the classic example of mastering this.

 

[62tele]

MR member since 2010.
Highly doubt you were skeptical about the Apple Watch.
Good spin attempt.

I've been an Apple customer since 2005 but that doesn't mean I can't be skeptical. I didn't even order until 5/28 when I went to an Apple Store to check it out.
Apple can faulted on many fronts but not the Watch.

 

[62tele]

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.

So, what you're saying is that you should be the CEO of Apple because clearly you know how to do this better than their executive team, dolts to the very last one!

 

[Glideslope]

So, what you're saying is that you should be the CEO of Apple because clearly you know how to do this better than their executive team, dolts to the very last one!

You should stop before you you're "magical" wears off.

 

[Karma*Police]

I believe that they release a new watch next Holiday but it will have several much needed advancements. Most of all the watch needs to become more than a second screen for the iPhone. It needs to be able to work independently from the phone. I want to be able to go out for a run without my phone and have GPS capabilities and be able to listen to music stored on the watch. I also want to be able to connect to wifi hotspots and get weather, email, iMessages, listen to streaming music, etc. Today I have a Fitbit Surge, which as a fitness band is superior to the Apple Watch in that it has a built in GPS and can track multiple types of exercise that the Apple watch does not. i.e. Cross training, Yoga, weight lifting, etc.

It does most everything you want it to do now. Even the lack of GPS has been found to be a non issue since Apple Watch learns your pace after a few runs with the iPhone. Tracking certain types of exercise will be addressed over time with software updates.

 

[guitarmatt]

Starting tomorrow you'll be able to reserve and pick up apple watch in store
http://imgur.com/Tj1PjxT

 

[fishmd]

Starting tomorrow you'll be able to reserve and pick up apple watch in store
http://imgur.com/Tj1PjxT

Nice. I asked them that earlier today and they couldn't tell me yet. What did they say about the time?

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

It will be 2018 until they come out with a new watch version. It'll have a 6k screen, four cameras, 5g connectivity, and make coffee. And it'll only cost $40.

You had me until you said that it would only be $40.

 

[darcyf]

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.

If Apple were selling cakes that might be an ok idea. Or if Apple were selling, oh, I don't know, iPhones and cases... yeah, something like that just might work!

But a watch is as much the piece as it is the strap. If they did it your way it would undermine the concept of the watch as a whole. Now you're just buying parts. There's nothing special about that.

Something to consider before you start calling other people morons: Not everything worth doing is easy, and making something easier doesn't necessarily make it better.

 

[MNJohn]

Apple Stores in the United States have begun to receive shipments of the Apple Watch to fulfill in-store reservations through Personal Pickup, according to BGR. The report claims the Apple Watch will be available for in-store pickup starting today or tomorrow, but the exact product mix remains unclear at this point.

A spot check of the Apple Online Store reveals that the Personal Pickup option remains unavailable for the Apple Watch at brick-and-mortar Apple Store locations in New York and elsewhere in the United States. A dedicated Reserve and Pickup page for the Apple Watch that was live in early April also continues to redirect to the main Apple Watch product page on the company's website.

Apple Watch orders have been taken exclusively online since pre-orders began on April 10, although Apple is now catching up on the backlog of shipments and is better positioned to sell the wrist-worn device in stores soon. Apple executive Jeff Williams confirmed earlier this month that it would soon begin selling some Apple Watch models in Apple Stores, but he did not provide a specific date.Apple Watch launches in seven additional countries on June 26: Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan. The wrist-worn device will be sold through the Apple Store, Apple Online Store and select authorized resellers in the countries, including 10 Corso Como in Milan, BOONTHESHOP Cheongdam in Seoul and Malmaison by The Hour Glass in Singapore.

Article Link: Apple Watch Shipments Arriving to Apple Stores, In-Store Availability Appears Imminent

Who cares??? How nerdy do you have to be to wear one of these irrelevant appentiges?

 

[62tele]

You should stop before you you're "magical" wears off.

I'm not sure what that means?

 

[Jschultz]

If Apple were selling cakes that might be an ok idea. Or if Apple were selling, oh, I don't know, iPhones and cases... yeah, something like that just might work!

But a watch is as much the piece as it is the strap. If they did it your way it would undermine the concept of the watch as a whole. Now you're just buying parts. There's nothing special about that.

Something to consider before you start calling other people morons: Not everything worth doing is easy, and making something easier doesn't necessarily make it better.

It doesn't matter that you're buying parts, or if the 'experience' of buying is special. All that matters is that you get your watch as fast as possible.

It makes complete sense for Apple to start with the watch itself. Gold-plated watches aside, they only have 4 (in each size) bodies, along with 17 different straps. If you manage the demand for the watches themselves and let the bands follow, you'll be in much better shape, rather than trying to manage every single combination.

I used to work for an industrial lighting manufacturer that had one particular model that was very, very customizable. All told, there were probably 25 or so different models based on what the customer chose. We didn't stock and build every model; we started with the housing every single one used, and only built once the customer order came in. Once we had a pretty good handle on the model popularity/distribution, it became infinitely easier to forecast and meet demand. Why Apple doesn't do this, I do not understand.

 

[doelcm82]

This is exactly how I felt. I ordered April 15. June 1 I got an update that said it would deliver June 30. Screw that. I decided to just wait til I could get them in store. Which you still can't. And this is a product that was announced in October. I agree with all the Apple pundits who are now calling ver1 a "soft launch"

I'm not saying I wouldn't have made the same call, but if you hadn't canceled your order, you would probably have it by now.

I didn't order in April, because I had too many things on my plate. A new baby coming May 1. Moving out of our house in Texas May 15. A big project going live at my job in Kentucky May 18. Driving to Florida with the baby, his two-year-old brother, and their mother later in May. I really didn't have time or a place to wait and sign for a UPS delivery.

I figured I would wait until we were settled in Florida, and then order the Watch. There is actually an Apple store 17 miles away, but 17 miles is a lot farther with a 6-week-old, and the project go-live didn't go well, so I'm online constantly (between feedings) trying to fix things at work. I watch the baby while his mom goes to medical school during the day.

Anyway, I finally ordered the watch on June 3. The confirmation email said:

Available to ship: 2-3 weeks
Delivers: Jun 25 - Jul 1 by Standard Shipping​

The Watch arrived by UPS on June 11.

 

[Col4bin]

This is so stupid. A company like Apple doesn't need to limit supply to increase demand. People can't buy what doesn't exist and are probably more likely to buy something else that is available or lose interest all together and not buy anything at all.

Big words coming from Rogifan, the biggest Apple Watch pom pom waiver of them all. I can feel the breeze from here, dude!

 

[ginkobiloba]

yep, it is available now in stores here in Paris. I cancelled my online order of yesterday and got one from a Store today.

 

[darcyf]

It doesn't matter that you're buying parts, or if the 'experience' of buying is special. All that matters is that you get your watch as fast as possible.

It makes complete sense for Apple to start with the watch itself. Gold-plated watches aside, they only have 4 (in each size) bodies, along with 17 different straps. If you manage the demand for the watches themselves and let the bands follow, you'll be in much better shape, rather than trying to manage every single combination.

I used to work for an industrial lighting manufacturer that had one particular model that was very, very customizable. All told, there were probably 25 or so different models based on what the customer chose. We didn't stock and build every model; we started with the housing every single one used, and only built once the customer order came in. Once we had a pretty good handle on the model popularity/distribution, it became infinitely easier to forecast and meet demand. Why Apple doesn't do this, I do not understand.

I agree, you don't understand. That doesn't make what Apple is doing wrong, though.

That might have worked for your experience in industrial lighting -- and maybe it would work for the hypothetical cake and ribbon business -- but neither of these examples are remotely similar to the concept of a watch as something whole and complete and special because of that completeness.

And this kind of faster = better mentality is not how Apple views the customer experience. They would rather do it right than do it as quickly as possible. Otherwise they'd just set up a trough on launch days and let their customers gorge from it like a hungry mob of animals rather than ask them to wait in line.

The trough might be faster. But it's definitely not better.

 

[CFreymarc]

Hoarder.

More like deployment. All are going out for field trials to clients. Quicker for me to buy them and expense it out to an client than the client trying to get a PO for an Apple Watch internally. A lot of companies have policies against purchasing "jewelery or other aesthetic items that could be inferred as a gift" and believe it or not, wristwatches are considered jewelery by many companies whom write these policies. Thus, you cannot get a smart-watch purchase through their accounting. Yes, anal to the extreme. One more reason why I never take a salary and refuse to deal with middle managers.

 

[CFreymarc]

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.

They had all the numbers of the volume by the pre-orders to get the stock right. Issue Apple had was not customer demographics but production. It is no surprise that Foxconn started to look for manufacturing within India right after this Apple Watch fulfillment crash. From what I pick up, there was a lot of push back from the rank and file over watch production. Also, the sapphire cover fiasco kept a sapphire surface off the Apple Watch Sport.

 

[CFreymarc]

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....

Put your money where your mouth is and short Apple stock right before the next earnings report.

 

[fishmd]

Put your money where your mouth is and short Apple stock right before the next earnings report.

Would love to if you will lend me some of yours. ;-) Hey, I bought 2 today just to try to help them out. I again state that I am sure they have sold a good deal of them, but no where near what <Some> analysts have stated. In fact, some of the analysts that initially predicted these large numbers of sales have since decreased those estimates in half. But you don't hear many people talking about that here.

 

[CFreymarc]

Would love to if you will lend me some of yours. ;-) Hey, I bought 2 today just to try to help them out. I again state that I am sure they have sold a good deal of them, but no where near what <Some> analysts have stated. In fact, some of the analysts that initially predicted these large numbers of sales have since decreased those estimates in half. But you don't hear many people talking about that here.

This is MacRumors and not MacFacts. I view the site as a happy hour at a local watering hole with the bartender screaming out facts and happening of the day to stir up conversation. This is not a gentleman's club nor a debate society as their is no dedicated bouncer nor doorman.

 

[Piggie]

If Apple were selling cakes that might be an ok idea. Or if Apple were selling, oh, I don't know, iPhones and cases... yeah, something like that just might work!

But a watch is as much the piece as it is the strap. If they did it your way it would undermine the concept of the watch as a whole. Now you're just buying parts. There's nothing special about that.

Something to consider before you start calling other people morons: Not everything worth doing is easy, and making something easier doesn't necessarily make it better.

Please try you hardest to understand this:

I am, and have never said, sell the customer the watch without a strap.
Likewise, not to sell a cake without a ribbon
Or sell the burger without the bun.

The SHOP selects the customers watch and strap choice at point of sale.
You are handed your cake with a ribbon over the counter
you are handed your burger in your bun over the counter

The Apple customer does not care if the strap gets put on the body of the watch in the Apple store or in the Apple factory, as long as they get the combination they want, when they pay for it, as fast as possible.
And this is the best way of doing so.

 

[Glideslope]

I'm not sure what that means?

I know.

 

[darcyf]

Please try you hardest to understand this:

I am, and have never said, sell the customer the watch without a strap.
Likewise, not to sell a cake without a ribbon
Or sell the burger without the bun.

The SHOP selects the customers watch and strap choice at point of sale.
You are handed your cake with a ribbon over the counter
you are handed your burger in your bun over the counter

The Apple customer does not care if the strap gets put on the body of the watch in the Apple store or in the Apple factory, as long as they get the combination they want, when they pay for it, as fast as possible.
And this is the best way of doing so.

I never said you said that. Disagreeing with you and rewriting you are two totally different things.

I completely understand what you're asking for and I completely disagree with it. From the conceptual level all the way down to the practical level, it's a bad idea. It's the difference between how most companies think and how Apple thinks. It's what separates the good from the great.

Your idea might seem so obvious to you, but it's missing what's important.

Look at it this way: you can enjoy a cake without a ribbon. The ribbon is not a part of the cake. It's an accessory.

The strap is a part of the watch. I know you're not advocating selling it without a strap, but you are advocating treating it as though it's something secondary. Something that can be shipped separately and connected at the time of purchase. Which while technically correct is conceptually false. And practically problematic (see unboxing experience, gift-giving, etc).

Disagree all you want, but this propensity towards insulting those who disagree with you, be it myself or the people at Apple who are making these decisions in the first place, is doing nothing to strengthen your argument or make you any less wrong.

 

[Piggie]

I never said you said that. Disagreeing with you and rewriting you are two totally different things.

I completely understand what you're asking for and I completely disagree with it. From the conceptual level all the way down to the practical level, it's a bad idea. It's the difference between how most companies think and how Apple thinks. It's what separates the good from the great.

Your idea might seem so obvious to you, but it's missing what's important.

Look at it this way: you can enjoy a cake without a ribbon. The ribbon is not a part of the cake. It's an accessory.

The strap is a part of the watch. I know you're not advocating selling it without a strap, but you are advocating treating it as though it's something secondary. Something that can be shipped separately and connected at the time of purchase. Which while technically correct is conceptually false. And practically problematic (see unboxing experience, gift-giving, etc).

Disagree all you want, but this propensity towards insulting those who disagree with you, be it myself or the people at Apple who are making these decisions in the first place, is doing nothing to strengthen your argument or make you any less wrong.

We shall have to disagree.
Al I can say is this, and I can say this 100% for a fact.
If Apple were doing as I am saying, then you would not be here now posting that what they are doing it wrong, you would be here typing that they are doing it the correct way.