Best Buy Begins Selling Apple Watch

[MacRumors]

In late July, Best Buy announced plans to begin Apple Watch sales online and in its retail stores beginning on August 7, and as promised, Apple Watch sales have now kicked off, with the device available for purchase on Best Buy's website.

Best Buy plans to offer 16 models from the aluminum Apple Watch Sport and stainless Steel Apple Watch collections. Models available online include all 38 and 42mm Apple Watch Sport models, and 38 and 42mm stainless steel Apple Watch models with Black Sport Band, White Sport Band, and Milanese Loop.

Apple Watch purchases placed online ship immediately, and in-store pickup is also available. Best Buy will likely begin in-store sales of the Apple Watch when participating retail stores open in the morning across the United States. The Apple Watch is available in 100 Best Buy stores, with Best Buy planning to expand retail availability to more than 300 stores over the next few months.

Best Buy is also selling a selection of Apple Watch Sport Bands and the Milanese Loop, plus the company is offering a wide range of Apple Watch accessories from third-party manufacturers, including charging stands, screen protectors, protective cases, and bands.

Best Buy is the first major national retailer aside from Apple to sell the Apple Watch. Since the device's launch in April, it's been limited to the online Apple Store, Apple retail stores, and select boutiques around the world due to constrained supplies.

Apple has managed to ramp up production and catch up with demand rapidly over the past few months, with the expansion to Best Buy coming less than two months after the Apple Watch became available for purchase in Apple's own retail stores.

Article Link: Best Buy Begins Selling Apple Watch

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[pedro_martins]

What about selling it in stores around the world? Apple must stop with this US-centric MO. They belong to the world.

 

[pedro_martins]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

It doesn't have to chance something to be a great and worthy product. Sometimes, it just has to be better at doing something.

IT already is by far the best in the respective category, and it has potential to actually change things as well.

 

[jpgr15]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

Personally, I find value in the watch - as do many others. On the contrary, some, or many, don't find value in it. Why is it though that because you don't see the value, that means it automatically has zero value to anyone?

Get over yourself.

 

[Zirel]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

The story of Google of the last 10 years.

 

[Chundles]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

It's made me more active and more interested in my health. It's changed a great deal for me.

 

[Recognition]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

every once in a while an useless comment comes along that changes nothing

 

[JohnApples]

With my local BestBuy being a quarter of the distance from my home as the nearest Apple Store, this is great for me. Will have to go browse the accessories this weekend!

 

[MH01]

The story of Google of the last 10 years.

You have not heard on Android? Don't use a search engine? Maps? never seen an online ad? what do you think Google does?

 

[MH01]

I hope this leads to price cuts along the way, and more people giving the AW a go. At its current price its too expansive for some people to consider.

 

[iamMacPerson]

I still have a 10% movers coupon that expires on the first. I'd love to use it on a Milanese loop.

 

[Karma*Police]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

Strange you would say that considering Wristly's recent surveys showed it had a material impact on people's health and habits. And this is just the first gen. Perhaps you just lack the imagination to see how a wearable device that can collect biometric data, encourage users to be more active and offer quick access to information and discreet notifications/reminders can be extremely useful and even revolutionary?

You do realize, you sound like all the iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac naysayers back in the day, right?

 

[FieldingMellish]

The same is said about gym memberships and stair masters that yet eventually fall into disuse. In time, so many watches will become dresser drawer ware.

 

[Zirel]

You have not heard on Android? Don't use a search engine? Maps? never seen an online ad? what do you think Google does?

Android is a success for everyone, except for Google, even Microsoft makes more money off Android than Google!

Search engine, gmail, gmaps, YouTube, are all over 10 years old.

Newer products, like Google+, Google Glass, Google Code, Google Wave, Google Hangouts, Andeoid Wear, Google Wallet, Nest, Google Music, have been nothing more than failures so far, and certainly one can say that they changed nothing.

 

[Karma*Police]

I hope this leads to price cuts along the way, and more people giving the AW a go. At its current price its too expansive for some people to consider.

It's probably not going to happen because Apple is about affordable luxury.

Besides, price != value. In fact, Wristly's survey showed that SS owners felt they got a better value than Sport owners, even though they paid at least $200 more.

Also, if you listen to Fitbit's latest earnings call, their users are more engaged with their more feature-rich, smart watch-like expensive models as opposed to the basic Fitbit devices that end up in desk drawers after a few months.

Personally, I think AW is a great value. The build quality and materials used are second to none and it's a brilliant piece of tech.

 

[Zirel]

What about selling it in stores around the world? Apple must stop with this US-centric MO. They belong to the world.

Sure thing.

I had to import mine from France.

Apple, Portugal exists.

 

[Schizoid]

good luck with that...

 

[Winni]

Strange you would say that considering Wristly's recent surveys showed it had a material impact on people's health and habits. And this is just the first gen. Perhaps you just lack the imagination to see how a wearable device that can collect biometric data, encourage users to be more active and offer quick access to information and discreet notifications/reminders can be extremely useful and even revolutionary?

You do realize, you sound like all the iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac naysayers back in the day, right?

August 2015. I still haven't seen anyone wearing an Apple Watch in the real world, at least not here in Germany. I've only seen a fistful of smartwatches thus far, and nobody who wore one actually gave that device category a lot of credit or said that they couldn't imagine life without them. After all, these things are basically just smartphone extensions and do not provide anything that the smartphone couldn't do on its own.

I still have not seen anybody who could actually REPLACE a notebook with an iPad or any other tablet, and I still have not seen anybody who ever used his tablet/iPad for something other than playing casual games, reading an eBook or consuming music or movies or doing some "light" web surfing. Now the market for tablets is saturated and people have figured out that the new 2015 tablet is not any more useful than their old 2010 tablet. In other words, tablets are a fad that, as the drop in sales numbers indicates, is finally coming to an end.

Just as those Apple Watch health apps are a fad that won't last. People who need a gadget to make them pay attention to their own health will soon start getting annoyed by those nagging reminders and either ignore them or switch them off -- gadgets don't change the human nature, full stop. Tamagochis also were hip for a while, and those have disappeared a long time ago. Fads don't last.

I haven't seen an iPod in a long, long time, though - because smartphones have effectively killed their market niche and smartphones have become cheap commodity products. The iPod itself wasn't the big deal anyhow. The iTunes store behind it was what changed the game, because all of a sudden there was a relatively easy to use way to fill an mp3 player with legally obtained content without having to purchase a CD and rip it yourself (which, at the time, was also very time consuming). The store is still there. But now it's fueling smartphones instead of pure mp3 players.

The graphical user interface and smartphones were real game changers. They were actually useful and had a significant impact on our daily businesses and routines, and they opened the world of computing to non-technical people and made the Internet mobile. And smartphones, at least once in a while, can still be used to make a phone call. For a lot of people, that's a useful feature...

Truly useful things last - and don't need to be hyped to sell well.

 

[Mr Fusion]

August 2015. I still haven't seen anyone wearing an Apple Watch in the real world, at least not here in Germany. I've only seen a fistful of smartwatches thus far, and nobody who wore one actually gave that device category a lot of credit or said that they couldn't imagine life without them. After all, these things are basically just smartphone extensions and do not provide anything that the smartphone couldn't do on its own.

I still have not seen anybody who could actually REPLACE a notebook with an iPad or any other tablet, and I still have not seen anybody who ever used his tablet/iPad for something other than playing casual games, reading an eBook or consuming music or movies or doing some "light" web surfing. Now the market for tablets is saturated and people have figured out that the new 2015 tablet is not any more useful than their old 2010 tablet. In other words, tablets are a fad that, as the drop in sales numbers indicates, is finally coming to an end.

Just as those Apple Watch health apps are a fad that won't last. People who need a gadget to make them pay attention to their own health will soon start getting annoyed by those nagging reminders and either ignore them or switch them off -- gadgets don't change the human nature, full stop. Tamagochis also were hip for a while, and those have disappeared a long time ago. Fads don't last.

I haven't seen an iPod in a long, long time, though - because smartphones have effectively killed their market niche and smartphones have become cheap commodity products. The iPod itself wasn't the big deal anyhow. The iTunes store behind it was what changed the game, because all of a sudden there was a relatively easy to use way to fill an mp3 player with legally obtained content without having to purchase a CD and rip it yourself (which, at the time, was also very time consuming). The store is still there. But now it's fueling smartphones instead of pure mp3 players.

The graphical user interface and smartphones were real game changers. They were actually useful and had a significant impact on our daily businesses and routines, and they opened the world of computing to non-technical people and made the Internet mobile. And smartphones, at least once in a while, can still be used to make a phone call. For a lot of people, that's a useful feature...

Truly useful things last - and don't need to be hyped to sell well.

Get off this thread, you're making way too much sense to post on MacRumors.

Best Buy eh?...

... The watch is still a failure.

 

[pedro_martins]

Get off this thread, you're making way too much sense to post on MacRumors.

Best Buy eh?...

... The watch is still a failure.

Why? Because it didn't bring peace to the world?

What metric are you using? Is every single non-Apple smartphone a failure? Is any single non-Apple PC a failure? Is Surface a failure?

Why is the watch, that is doing better on the first quarter than any of those mentioned products, a failure?

Because you expected it to be something else? Or just bring more profit than the whole of Google?

 

[McFreggle]

Sure thing.

I had to import mine from France.

Apple, Portugal exists.

I also imported mine from France. Happy to be an early-adopting Belgian.

 

[peterdevries]

every once in a while an useless product comes along that changes nothing

Every once in a while a useless post comes along that adds nothing

Edit: recognition beat me to it.

 

[thewap]

Nothing screams more wearable fashion and horological excellence than Best Buy...

 

[MH01]

It's probably not going to happen because Apple is about affordable luxury.

Besides, price != value. In fact, Wristly's survey showed that SS owners felt they got a better value than Sport owners, even though they paid at least $200 more.

Also, if you listen to Fitbit's latest earnings call, their users are more engaged with their more feature-rich, smart watch-like expensive models as opposed to the basic Fitbit devices that end up in desk drawers after a few months.

Personally, I think AW is a great value. The build quality and materials used are second to none and it's a brilliant piece of tech.

It is one really well made smart watch. Though I have to admit I hated the leather band, on what planet is that leather.... At first I thought it was symphetic