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Confirmed: Apple Watch will NOT be sold in Apple Retail Stores

It sounds like they had setup a plan of flexibility. If pre-orders did not consume all of the stock, they were prepared to offer the product in the store. As we now know, pre-orders far outstripped the supply and they will not offer them in the store initially.

Retail employees that I spoke to yesterday are unsure if bands will be available on the 24th in the store. Judging by the fact that most of them are listed as "June" on the website, I suspect they will be online order only for some time.

For those that believe Apple is creating an artificial demand, you'd better re-check your thinking. If they had their choice, this would not be the ideal situation. They are going to be turning away throngs of customers for several weeks due to high demand/low supply. If they had the watches, they'd sell them in a heartbeat.
 
DynaFXD said:
See? There you go. An official press release and the communication from Tim and this idea still persists. If Apple had any sense at this point, they would not sell from of brick and mortar even if they had thousands of watches on hand. To do so would really just paint them as completely waffling and rudderless on how they handle major events. If the answer is 'maybe', then say maybe. If the answer is 'no', as previous press releases suggest, then that's it. One or the other guys. And so far, there is no reason not to believe that they are being completely consistent in this matter.
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I don't think this will be a problem. They clearly don't have enough stock to support in store sales, which is why they are only doing online preorders and warned the world that inventory would be tight. Why can't people just listen to what is being said instead of continuing to ask the same question over and over, hoping to get a different result.
 
Wonder what happens with repairs. They have to have some level of store stock on hand for AppleCare users right?
 
monaarts said:
they WOULD NOT be selling Apple Watches in stores after it launches, it's going to be an online only device.
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monaarts said:
Apple will NOT be selling any of the Apple Watch models in retail stores on launch day
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Your post is confusing. Are you talking about launch day only? Or is the Watch never going to be available in-store and will be 'an online only device'.
 
DynaFXD said:
See? There you go. An official press release and the communication from Tim and this idea still persists. If Apple had any sense at this point, they would not sell from of brick and mortar even if they had thousands of watches on hand. To do so would really just paint them as completely waffling and rudderless on how they handle major events. If the answer is 'maybe', then say maybe. If the answer is 'no', as previous press releases suggest, then that's it. One or the other guys. And so far, there is no reason not to believe that they are being completely consistent in this matter.
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They already changed their minds before preorders even began! Where were the instore pickup options for the US guys? There was a grafic on the apple store page for 2 weeks, and they removed it 2 days before preorders started. They really messed up with information policy this time.
 
monaarts said:
if I have to wait 2+ months to receive the device I'll just wait for version 2
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That's kinda childish, huh?

I mean, if having to for stock to be available makes you not want the product, then fine, but to email the CEO with this little tantrum is a bit much.
 
I don't have the exact quote handy, but I know that someone at Apple clarified that they would be available in-store after the initial first-wave demand relaxed.

Move along, nothing to see here.
 
As long as the scalpers can't stand in line and take them from people that want to use them I'm happy. :)
 
die444die said:
That's kinda childish, huh?

I mean, if having to for stock to be available makes you not want the product, then fine, but to email the CEO with this little tantrum is a bit much.
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I didn't threaten the CEO or give him an ultimatum. I wanted to bring it to his attention that someone who is a loyal Apple customer experienced some pretty poor communication issues. I also told him that I was on the fence of getting the 1st generation or waiting for the 2nd and after trying it on I was convinced I'd get the 1st, however, the wait made the decision for me.

I'm not sure what you find childish about this. If I'm going to spend my money I'll spend it how I want.
 
It worries me that people here are so confused about it. What does that say for the normal consumer? How many sales will be lost because people won't be able to make the in-store impulse buy? Or if they try to order at home and see a ship date months from now.

I find it hard to believe that this project wasn't rushed to market. What is so concerning is that Apple generally does not do that sort of thing. They have always waited until they were ready.
 
Cashmonee said:
It worries me that people here are so confused about it. What does that say for the normal consumer?
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The normal consumer doesn't give a **** at all yet and won't for a year or longer, after their overly tech obsessed friends have calmed down and are actually seen using the device in a truly compelling manner.

The members of this board couldn't be farther removed from the "normal consumer" group.
 
monaarts said:
I didn't threaten the CEO or give him an ultimatum. I wanted to bring it to his attention that someone who is a loyal Apple customer experienced some pretty poor communication issues. I also told him that I was on the fence of getting the 1st generation or waiting for the 2nd and after trying it on I was convinced I'd get the 1st, however, the wait made the decision for me.

I'm not sure what you find childish about this. If I'm going to spend my money I'll spend it how I want.
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who is to say when gen 2 will be out? kind of doubting this is going to be a yearly cycle.
 
I know it seems odd to not have the watches in stock at Apple Stores, but I really wonder if they will ever sell watches at the brick and mortar stores.

Ignoring the Edition for the moment, with 4 different models plus all the various band combinations, the stock for each store to have all the configurations would have to be quite large to ensure customers could purchase the model/band they wanted right then and there. Rather than miss out on sales for people that wanted a particular set-up and weren't willing to compromise, all sales could be conducted in store with next day delivery once stock levels are sufficient.

Either that or they could have the watches and bands in stock and your watch could be configured on the spot, but I imagine the experience of opening the Apple packaging and getting your watch as you wished is something Apple wants to keep as part of their overall purchase experience.
 
Cashmonee said:
It worries me that people here are so confused about it. What does that say for the normal consumer? How many sales will be lost because people won't be able to make the in-store impulse buy? Or if they try to order at home and see a ship date months from now.

I find it hard to believe that this project wasn't rushed to market. What is so concerning is that Apple generally does not do that sort of thing. They have always waited until they were ready.
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Couldn't agree more. If people are confused then it's Apple's poor communications and nothing else! Not a good thing for the launch of a major new product. Somebody screwed up.
 
The denial is amazing. I get Apple has to turn more than a few people away from waiting in line next Thursday night.
 
monaarts said:
I didn't threaten the CEO or give him an ultimatum. I wanted to bring it to his attention that someone who is a loyal Apple customer experienced some pretty poor communication issues. I also told him that I was on the fence of getting the 1st generation or waiting for the 2nd and after trying it on I was convinced I'd get the 1st, however, the wait made the decision for me.

I'm not sure what you find childish about this. If I'm going to spend my money I'll spend it how I want.
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I'm not saying it's childish to decide to wait for the 2nd gen, (or opt out of buying one altogether).

I'm saying it's childish to send a complaining email to the CEO about how you were going to buy one, but now you're not because you can't get it as soon as you'd like and on your specific terms.
 
die444die said:
I'm not saying it's childish to decide to wait for the 2nd gen, (or opt out of buying one altogether).

I'm saying it's childish to send a complaining email to the CEO about how you were going to buy one, but now you're not because you can't get it as soon as you'd like and on your specific terms.
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It's a valid point for people to bring up and believe it or not, I'm sure the CEO of Apple would rather hear things like this than just have someone not buy the device and keep their mouth shut.

As someone who used to run a business, I can legitimately say I preferred hearing my customers concerns because guess what? Me and my employees make mistakes and unless you know you have a problem you can't fix it.

Btw - http://9to5mac.com/2015/04/15/apple-watch-site-update/#more-374942
 
The official Watch website has a link to find local retailers. I'm guessing this means after the initial rush the Watch will be sold elsewhere. It just won't be at first so we don't have the horrible supply issues iPhones always have because they're at 5 billion stores.
 
monaarts said:
It's a valid point for people to bring up and believe it or not, I'm sure the CEO of Apple would rather hear things like this than just have someone not buy the device and keep their mouth shut.

As someone who used to run a business, I can legitimately say I preferred hearing my customers concerns because guess what? Me and my employees make mistakes and unless you know you have a problem you can't fix it.

Btw - http://9to5mac.com/2015/04/15/apple-watch-site-update/#more-374942
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Based on what you wrote in your original post, you made it sound like you were whining because you waited and were frustrated that you would not be able to get a watch until stock was available.

It was announced ahead of time that they would not be available for purchase in stores during the launch period, and I maintain that sending an email to the CEO because one employee seemed to be misinformed or did not have up to date information just seems like you were throwing a temper tantrum, rather than offering any useful feedback.

Further, as announced today, the watch is expected to be in stores following the launch period which at this point looks like will be sometime after May, so if you were implying that it would not be sold in stores at all, that was incorrect.

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/16/apple-watch-ahrendts-memo-april-16/
 
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