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Apple Watch Sold Out in Less Than 6 Hours as Shipping Times Slip on All Models

darkslide29 said:
Not sure if I should be embarassed to admit that I don't watch a lot of movies, but when I do I will go to rottentomatoes to see what is most popular in theatres and/or DVD rentals, and pick one from there. :eek:

I don't do this for music though. You won't find me looking at a billboard top whatever, but that's just because music is more to me than movies and I have a different level of interest in it.

It seems that I may be onto something, and might have a point. But, I've lost it.
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I think a lot of people do that with movies. We want to see what the critics are raving about. It doesn't work with music because I feel like good music is more subjective.

There are so many genres. A good movie is more universal. People from all walks of life can love the same movie. But with music it's either you like pop/rock/hip-hop/country or you don't.
 
Glideslope said:
.......what a joke. Steve is rolling in his grave. :apple:

When it's by design, absolutely. :apple:
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26139 said:
Why in the hell would anyone on here give a crap about how fast another watch sold out?

Good for Motorola and all that, not sure what that has to do with Apple Watch availability and shipping times.

Yeah for you, I guess.
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Because selling out doesn't mean squat any more :rolleyes:
 
mrtravel123 said:
The "up vote" button is to blame for eliciting many of the of the comments posted on MR.

IMO - Many people intentionally try to be divisive, humorous, ultra-sarcastic, etc... simply because getting a lot of "up votes" makes them feel good about themselves.

It really diminishes the quality of the MR forum area. Instead of intelligent posts, we see many posts that are clearly meant to grab up votes.

Ever since the iPhone's release (which brought in millions of new Apple users), I've noticed that the MR forum area has been hit with all sorts of people.

The forums are not what they used to be.

In the past I came to the forums to get information from people who knew A LOT about Macs. Now, it is packed with a bunch of people seeking attention.
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Yea, some of us remember "the good ole days".
Don't just blame MRs up vote button, I think Facebook is the primary culprit for fanning the fire of the vanities with the "like" button.

Maybe MR should consider removing it?

Not just that, but forums in general have become increasingly mean-spirited.
 
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Dascoyne said:
:)
I've come to appreciate that the winners tend to write the history.

Either I'm demented or there are many things I recall about computing for which I can find no clear verification. For instance, when Netscape Navigator took off I also recall Gates distinctly stating publicly that he's devoting no resources to Internet browsing because he didn't think it was going to amount to much.

The official story today is that he was invested in it from the very beginning. I can't find any reference to Gates' initial statement anywhere. Maybe I'm just getting old and crazy.
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This is probably getting way OT, but there's actually a fair amount of good documentation on the history of the internet. It was called Browser Wars after Marc Andreesen's Netscape made Tim Berners-Lee www protocol accessible to the general public.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars

Those of us who lived through this era do remember that Microsoft was late to the party on several computing innovations. Much like Apple on smartphones, but their respective successes have proven that you don't need to be the first or best on anything. You need to know how to market it to the masses.

Prior to that, there were network protocol wars. All of the closed systems from DECnet, AppleTalk or Novell, etc... failed in favour of the ubiquitous TCP/IP which was older than all of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet
 
pthug said:
Good start but the Moto 360 also achieved this feat...

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/5/6111433/motorola-is-already-sold-out-of-its-moto-360-smartwatch

Guess we'll see how it fares after the faithful are satisfied
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In my job I meet loads of people every day, and to be honest the only smart watch I came across so far is a Sony one, the owner never gets tired of demonstrating a fart app. It never seems to work as expected and it doesn't look a joy to use. I have so far not come across a single other watches of this new kind. I have come across many people wearing fitness related bands. I have not once seen a Motorola or Samsung watch in real life, but I know 2 other people who ordered Apple Watch on the first day. I am sure that once Apple Watch ships we will see many other 'smart watches' around. Apple have a way of getting things started properly. It will be good for the whole industry if it succeeds.
 
BSben said:
In my job I meet loads of people every day, and to be honest the only smart watch I came across so far is a Sony one, the owner never gets tired of demonstrating a fart app. It never seems to work as expected and it doesn't look a joy to use. I have so far not come across a single other watches of this new kind. I have come across many people wearing fitness related bands. I have not once seen a Motorola or Samsung watch in real life, but I know 2 other people who ordered Apple Watch on the first day. I am sure that once Apple Watch ships we will see many other 'smart watches' around. Apple have a way of getting things started properly. It will be good for the whole industry if it succeeds.
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I've seen quite a few Samsung galaxy gear watches. In the past week alone I've seen 2 (in the space of 5 days). I thought smart watches were quite niche but maybe not. They won't be after the apple watch is released anyhow.
 
tentales said:
This is probably getting way OT, but there's actually a fair amount of good documentation on the history of the internet. It was called Browser Wars after Marc Andreesen's Netscape made Tim Berners-Lee www protocol accessible to the general public.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars

Those of us who lived through this era do remember that Microsoft was late to the party on several computing innovations. Much like Apple on smartphones, but their respective successes have proven that you don't need to be the first or best on anything. You need to know how to market it to the masses.

Prior to that, there were network protocol wars. All of the closed systems from DECnet, AppleTalk or Novell, etc... failed in favour of the ubiquitous TCP/IP which was older than all of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet
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thanks!

(Is "market" the right word here?)
 
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jm001 said:
I actually placed an order like most folks at 3 am EST using the Apple Store App and I had a May delivery date. However 2 hours later logic set in and I cancelled my order. Just like the original iPhone, I'm going to wait this out till the version I like comes out. In the case of the iPhone it was the iPhone 4. I had a flip phone that was on pay as you go for a few years until the iPhone 4 came out and I never regretted waiting. The same goes for this watch. After the Applecare and taxes this little piece of tech was going to cost me close to $700 CDN! (and that was just for the aluminum sport edition). I will save my "ducats" and wait for maybe version 2 and possibly get the steel version.
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Funny, I'm going through the same thought process. I placed an order for the black sport about 15 min after launch, and have a June delivery. I've known from the start that I probably wouldn't be satisfied with gen 1, but figured I'd give it a try. If it were going to show up in a couple weeks, they could probably keep me locked because of the excitement-- but 90 days is a long time to stay engaged.

I like a lot of what I see with the watch, but I've really been turned off by the way it's being sold. The pricing tiers, absurd markup on bands, months of hype, high end marketing, and now lack of availability all drive down my interest. They're trying too hard to make it feel exclusive, and that's just not my thing.

Maybe if they didn't try to sell it as 40 specific models, but as bodies and bands they wouldn't be in this jam.
 
Analog Kid said:
I like a lot of what I see with the watch, but I've really been turned off by the way it's being sold. The pricing tiers, absurd markup on bands, months of hype, high end marketing, and now lack of availability all drive down my interest. They're trying too hard to make it feel exclusive, and that's just not my thing.
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Regardless of your feelings, I'd say mission accomplished. Consumers are clearly buying.

I do think that Apple have been remarkably on point with this venture into watches. There is all manner of watch snobbery out there, and I think if Apple had simply put one a single Apple smart watch product, they would have been in the same boat as all the other manufacturers who have completely failed to engage the public in smart watches.

Analog Kid said:
Maybe if they didn't try to sell it as 40 specific models, but as bodies and bands they wouldn't be in this jam.
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Jam? I guess your definition of jam is different to mine. Seems to me like Apple launched their product, and sold it all in six hours. They literally managed to get people to wake up in the middle of the night (or not go to bed) and order their product until it was all gone.

Imagine for a moment you opened a widget making company, and as many as you could make, you sold in six hours. Would you really refer to that as a 'jam?'
 
AtheistP3ace said:
So i am confused. I see people posting they were happy to get order in time for april 24th delivery so did people actually get emails saying april 24th delivery or has everyone really just got the 4/24 - 5/8 and assume they will get it april 24th?
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Got the 4-24 to 5-8 timeline and assume everyone who ordered a similar product in a similar time frame did also. Order was for a 42 mm aluminum with a white sport band and got it in within three minutes of availability (reading that again it sounds so desperate and horrid--please forgive me).
 
Mac21ND said:
Scarcity effect. Marketing 101.
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Not at all. Critics and analyst make claims about limited supplies, false claims to hype sales etc.

it's just a fact that Apple doesn't give online preorders all the stock. They want folks to still come to the store. Even with the whole appointments etc. The appointments are just so folks aren't waiting the same amount of times around the store getting pissy. And to slow down resellers.

And since they have to guess at what will be popular some stores might run out of certain models cause the guess was wrong. But it will all balance out over time

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Chris Arkley said:
I'm so pleased I managed to get mine straight away for April 24th Delivery!
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Thats better than most Apple store employees. That 50% off discount that leaks requires them to online order at the store. And many store managers, like my BFs, didn't let employees show up just to order. For my BF at least it was because the mall requires them to say exactly how many folks will be in the store for the overnight and if even one more person than that count is there, security can kick them all out (apparently there's some insurance thing involved).

So no one could turn up until 7am this morning, by which time everything was delivery date June or later. And the way the employee discount works, they can't get it in store with a product reservation. My BF and several others at his store emailed Tim and Angela how silly that whole situation is. After all, doesn't it benefit their product knowledge to have a watch and know how it works in day to day life. So why not make it so they can duke it out for reservations, even make it a rule they have to buy off the clock. but making them wait half the summer is silly

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Diaz72 said:
Well if it's true about the stores not carrying any stock on launch day,
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Stores will have stock. Just perhaps not every single model. and customers won't know this because they will have no idea that there is not any stock or there is but folks reserved it before they got to it.

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matthijst said:
They don't create scarcity, but this has been one of the lamest releases so far: no stock in store,
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there's never stock in stores when it's preorders.

no pickup option,
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yes there is. not an order online and pickup paid in store (even if there was you can't generally place those orders during the pre order period anyway) but there is a whole Product Reservation system for getting it at a store
 
Apple Wasn't Ready for This Launch

MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Apple has officially sold out of Apple Watch stock to be delivered within the April 24 launch day timeframe, as shipping times for all models have slipped to 4-6 weeks or later less than 6 hours after pre-orders started at 12:01 AM Pacific today. Apple Watch Sport models were the first to sell out, with delivery estimates shifting to 4-6 weeks, and then June, on the Apple Online Store in the United States.

The stainless steel Apple Watch retained fairly better shipping estimates after the pre-order window opened, with most models available to ship in 4-6 weeks after the first hour of availability. The 38mm Stainless Steel Apple Watch with Black Classic Buckle was the last model to maintain its original April 24th to May 8th shipping time, finally slipping at approximately 6 AM Pacific.

It appears that prospective buyers of the Apple Watch Edition will have a difficult time getting their hands on the 18-karat gold watch before summer, as shipping estimates for those models slipped to June-August almost immediately after pre-orders became available. Apple Watch Edition stock will also be limited to select Apple Stores in the United States and other launch countries.

Apple confirmed on Thursday that it expected Apple Watch demand to exceed supply upon launch, although it is unknown how many devices the company made available for pre-orders. Multiple reports in recent weeks claimed that Apple Watch stock would be limited at launch, possibly due to manufacturing delays or, as some critics suggest, an attempt to generate artificial hype for the wrist-worn device.

Article Link: Apple Watch Sold Out in Less Than 6 Hours as Shipping Times Slip on All Models
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I tried to buy the space gray sport about 15 minutes after launch and there was already a delay until June. This was the case for most models within an hour. If Apple cannot fill an hour's worth of supply then why even call April 24 the launch day? They were clearly not ready to launch on the 24th. I ordered the very first iPad the day after it was available for pre-order and got it on launch day no problem. They simply should have delayed the launch date instead of leaving so many of us disappointed that we need to wait two more months for this when we were all expected to get our watches on the 24th.
 
BruiserBear said:
I have no doubt in my mind this has only sold out for one of two reasons.

1) They've got very low stock for the launch.

2) They're holding back stock to make it look like the demand is higher than it really is.
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No and no. It sold out for one reason and one reason only. They don't give all the stock to the online system for pre orders. Not to make it look like the **** is popular. this isn't HP saying they sold out of the Slate when there were only 5k units. They withhold stock to make sure it can be there at the stores. Once they know the stores are covered, they will start filling orders from the online sales again. They always go far out on those delivery dates cause it looks crappier if they say 2 weeks and it ends up being 4. Apple's motto is 'under promise, over deliver'.
 
charlituna said:
No and no. It sold out for one reason and one reason only. They don't give all the stock to the online system for pre orders. Not to make it look like the **** is popular. this isn't HP saying they sold out of the Slate when there were only 5k units. They withhold stock to make sure it can be there at the stores. Once they know the stores are covered, they will start filling orders from the online sales again. They always go far out on those delivery dates cause it looks crappier if they say 2 weeks and it ends up being 4. Apple's motto is 'under promise, over deliver'.
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But in this case apple has already said that there would be no walk in sales for the apple watch on the 24th
 
ZCT said:
Regardless of your feelings, I'd say mission accomplished. Consumers are clearly buying.

Jam? I guess your definition of jam is different to mine. Seems to me like Apple launched their product, and sold it all in six hours. They literally managed to get people to wake up in the middle of the night (or not go to bed) and order their product until it was all gone.
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Apple launched the watch simultaneously in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK other than the US. The only folks who needed to be awake in the middle of the night to buy the watch were their US customers.
 
Tsdesigns said:
But in this case apple has already said that there would be no walk in sales for the apple watch on the 24th
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No walk in sales doesn't equal no sales at the stores.

walk in means you walk into the store, you grab the nearly blue hipster, shove your money and him and walk out with whatever product.

you can't do that this time around. Why? Because Apple is sick to death of the lines, the nasty attitudes from folks that to wait in the lines, dealing with the resellers etc.

So you have to reserve what you want before you go in. You can't reserve something that isn't there.

And you better believe the stores will have product to reserve and sell on launch day. Just like every other launch of every other thing.
 
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