Where are the articles about all the shipping space being bought up by Apple months ago? Did they sell a million watches on the first day of pre orders? Is the demand as great as that for the iPhone?
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Apple Watch Sold Out in Less Than 6 Hours as Shipping Times Slip on All Models
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Space Grey had to be the first to slip. I was a few minutes late and saw 4-6 weeks, so I went with the Silver/Green combo.
It's crazy that the gold ones are in such limited supply. Maybe they gave too many to people like Drake, and Katy Perry
Edit: But we shouldn't get too excited about this, or mock the "haters". We have no idea how many they made. For all we know it could've been a few hundred thousand. Save the victory dance until we get the numbers -- IF we get the numbers!
It was CLEARLY in short supply not high demand , I don't know a single person that ordered one. When iPhone drops I can name 10-20 people who preorder
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I understand. So what rationale like this implies is that the very best even Apple can do is what we see EVERY SINGLE TIME: sold out within minutes of even iterative product updates. 100 reasons why that can make sense don't (IMO anyway) make up for the reality of not being able to do better-to-much-better next time.
If the above is THE reason, setting the launch date for 1 week later than they set it would allow more units to come off those lines and be ready to delight (instead of delay) that many more customers. Launching in less markets than they chose would provide more supply to customers in the chosen markets too. Etc. Simple thoughts like that make me buy the scarcity play (not the "holding back already-made product" but the "make too few", "launch too soon" and/or "launch in too many markets" so that we definitely sell out quickly).
I'm not even against the scarcity tactic- that's great marketing- but how about instead of selling out in X minutes, they sell out in X times 2 minutes, or X times 3 minutes, or X times 10 minutes. They still sell out, still get the same marketing press benefits of selling out AND they get to make more people who get up at all hours of the night happy to be among the "lucky" ones. No downside to any artificial or real marketing ploy... but it does come with the added benefit of many more happier customers who feel (lucky) special.
You are right on about Apple probably not having a good idea how many watches to make, but the same can be applies to iPhones as well. Remember that Apple is a still a growing company and every product they make is entering or making a new market.
For example:
- iPhone 4S (1st launch on Verizon)
- iPhone 5 (China)
- iPhone 6(s) (two new products with expanded market)
Predicting the demand each time can be very difficult.
I think another point you are missing in your 'every single time' argument is the shear numbers involved. Apple sold how many millions of iPhones last quarter? That's hundreds a SECOND that need to be made. It's impossible to make enough between final design approval to launch day.
Lastly, there is a flip side of this scarcity issue. iPads are so overstocked you never have to pay full price for even the latest model. So it's not 'every time'.
I'm not really surprised that the gold one sold out, but do find it pretty sad that there enough people out there with enough disposable income/available credit to sell out a device that's only advantage is it costs more than the cheaper ones.
The vast majority of opinions I've read on this forum that are critical of Apple hardly seem hate-filled. We're mostly just adults here who own Apple products, love tech, and are simply entertaining ourselves by discussing and debating our opinions on various Apple news and rumors. I think this is usually a pretty civil place and people need to stop complaining so much about "the haters". Do you want discussion threads where everyone uniformly agrees? zzzzzzzzzz
Think Different™
Think Different™
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that's a damned expensive bracelet/fashion victim / poser/loser item people are clamoring for...
seriously, i understand it LOOKs good, cant fault the looks, but functionally ?!? Needs better battery life, you would think that some of apples BILLIONS would be sunk into researching battery life, not just ways to use less gold and sell for higher profit margins.
seriously, i understand it LOOKs good, cant fault the looks, but functionally ?!? Needs better battery life, you would think that some of apples BILLIONS would be sunk into researching battery life, not just ways to use less gold and sell for higher profit margins.
Wow, and I thought I would be safe waiting until mid-May to check it out when I'm next near an Apple Store. Seems like I'll be able to try it on but if I order it probably won't be available until Augustin which case I'll be even more likely to skip it altogether.
Most of Apple's big product launches are usually in the autumn now. Will Apple transition to autumn launches in the future? I know not this year, but will next year's watch come out in the summer and then the autumn in 2017? Although in the past they haven't been afraid to release a new iPad six months later. But I think with a product this new with a longer cycle, they'd really tick off a bunch of people. But then again they ticked off original iPhone buyers by dropping the price $200 after a few months. Oh memories!
Most of Apple's big product launches are usually in the autumn now. Will Apple transition to autumn launches in the future? I know not this year, but will next year's watch come out in the summer and then the autumn in 2017? Although in the past they haven't been afraid to release a new iPad six months later. But I think with a product this new with a longer cycle, they'd really tick off a bunch of people. But then again they ticked off original iPhone buyers by dropping the price $200 after a few months. Oh memories!
Apple: we have 10000 edition apple watch ready for $17K each. Let's keep them from selling, because you know, we do not want the money, all
$170 000 000
of it.
Critics (see above): hum.. Yes, that's what I say... Right.
They probably sold about a 500K, which was their initial lot of stock but you'll see inventory and ship times change hourly as stock mysteriously becomes available.
It will be interesting to see the reviews in the upcoming weeks.
It's annoying hearing that same BS over and over every product launch that Apple is holding back supply...but yet they go on to break records every time. I don't think Tim is saying, "Oh let's show availability for months because it looks like we are in high demand." In all actuality, that would make people not want to purchase it right now since they can't get it soon.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
OK. Let me give it a try with no logistical systems and no expert staff dedicated solely to logistics with which to consult. Next iDevice will sell out within minutes of launch. Anyone here have any doubts whatsoever about that statement? Anyone?
Use whatever methods are currently used to arrive at the initial amount (X) of the next iDevice to have in stock:
-add 100 more units to X so that 100 more customers up at midnight or 3am get to have that "lucky" (special) one feeling. Or,
-add 1000 more units to X, so that 1000 more customers... OR
-multiply X times 2, so that twice as many initial orders can be fulfilled on launch day. If X sells out in- say- 20 minutes, conceptually, this might lead to X times 2 selling out in up to 40 minutes. We still sell out and get all the press about selling out in minutes but we make TWICE as many buyers feel "lucky".
-multiply X by Y, where Y is a best estimate bigger than 2 but still compatible with our real or false goal of selling out for the marketing scarcity punch. If X sells out in 20 minutes and we want the morning press to be able to tout "sold out", we have up to 5 hours/20 minutes or Y = 15 to sell out before the morning press is readying their earliest reports AND up to 15 times more buyers feeling "lucky".
Simplistic? Oh yes. Naively simplistic? Yes. But could any of you argue X times 2 or 3 makes no sense for iterative product launches? if EVERY SINGLE TIME an iterative is sold out in minutes, same "projection times 2 or 3" still sells out in "minutes times 2 or 3" but 2 or 3 times more buyers get to feel lucky.
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This is simply a case of not enough inventory at launch. And we don't know currently what those #s are.
I don't think Apple deliberately planned to create scarcity - I simply think they launched without having an adequate supply and kept to their launch date.
I don't think Apple deliberately planned to create scarcity - I simply think they launched without having an adequate supply and kept to their launch date.
Apple say - "Come try our watches on so you know what you want before you buy". But if you do this you have to wait months more to get your watch. Trying on a Apple Watch before you buy one is very expensive. In terms of time you have you wait to get your watch compared to people who ordered online the second pre-orders were open.
Well in my case, I had already added the watch I wanted as a favorite so at 2:01 CDT it was a matter of opening the app, selecting "favorites", selecting the watch (it was the only item on my list), selecting "Buy with Pay" and leaving a thumbprint. Took seconds.
6 hours??
I was online at 12:01 PDT, and I couldn't find any model with less than 4-6 weeks shipping time.
I was online at 12:01 PDT, and I couldn't find any model with less than 4-6 weeks shipping time.