Despite everything...very impressed with the launch.

[Dmal99]

Unfortunately it wasn't a good launch, it was the worst yet. Unlike every single other launch, Apple has singled out one or two models and those models aren't shipping. It would be like if only the iPhone 6 plus 64gb didn't ship on launch but all others did. Then people who ordered other models are getting theirs even though they ordered hours after you and you have nothing.

That's why this is uniquely bad.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

I think its a horrible launch, but maybe thats because I am an :01 order still processing.

 

[djuzi]

Agreed with OP. An incredible feat considering how many people are getting it tomorrow. I don't think it can be considered a failure due to some orders being pushed.

Maybe I'm biased because I was charged on Monday... but still!

 

[vikingjunior]

People who say they are impressed have no idea how badly Apple messed all this up. When you have multiple keynotes talking about a product, give a release date but delete it from your own website and miss at the very least 50% of your preorders by pushing them out 2 months.. that isn't success, that's failure. No one is on the same page at their customer service departments ether. Instead of being told what is happening and reassuring customers they'll get the devices at the time they were scheduled, what you see are people getting their devices before others. Example.. if you ordered in the first couple minutes of launch for space grey.. sorry most of us aren't getting one this week. Ah but if you check and see people who ordered hours later getting confirmations now that had dates listed in June.. yeah that's a massive slap in the face to those who were there earlier. I can go on and on at how extremely disappointed I am as well as a ton of other people are about this launch but as always people who are on the other side turn a blind eye and don't care. Just as Tim and his group of geniuses don't give a rip either.

and as a bonus item for this.. if Apple Pay is so easy and convenient then why aren't those who embraced this method not at the front of the line either? At least that would make some sense as to why orders are scattered.

Nicely said and I agree

 

[AdonisSMU]

Says this guy who just joined macrumors

And this guy who didn't just join MacRumors.

 

[ksuyen]

People who say they are impressed have no idea how badly Apple messed all this up. When you have multiple keynotes talking about a product, give a release date but delete it from your own website and miss at the very least 50% of your preorders by pushing them out 2 months.. .

I stop reading here... signs of overreaction

 

[leenak]

People who say they are impressed have no idea how badly Apple messed all this up. When you have multiple keynotes talking about a product, give a release date but delete it from your own website and miss at the very least 50% of your preorders by pushing them out 2 months.. that isn't success, that's failure. No one is on the same page at their customer service departments ether. Instead of being told what is happening and reassuring customers they'll get the devices at the time they were scheduled, what you see are people getting their devices before others. Example.. if you ordered in the first couple minutes of launch for space grey.. sorry most of us aren't getting one this week. Ah but if you check and see people who ordered hours later getting confirmations now that had dates listed in June.. yeah that's a massive slap in the face to those who were there earlier. I can go on and on at how extremely disappointed I am as well as a ton of other people are about this launch but as always people who are on the other side turn a blind eye and don't care. Just as Tim and his group of geniuses don't give a rip either.

and as a bonus item for this.. if Apple Pay is so easy and convenient then why aren't those who embraced this method not at the front of the line either? At least that would make some sense as to why orders are scattered.

They had to give the first key note due to risk of suppliers leaking details. Then there was obviously some schedule slips in the manufacturing department but they figured they'd launch with a lower supply than demand. Still the number of watches shipping in the next couple weeks is millions.

They removed the date from the website because they didn't want people lining up at stores.

And how do you know 50% of the preorders are 2 months out? They already said they expect consumers to get their watches prior to their estimated dates.

And as far as customer service, we know as much as they know. People have been harassing apple support for no reason. You have an order, when your watch is shipping, they will tell you and most likely you will get it prior to your estimated date.

 

[greytmom]

Yeah I get that this launch was a bit of a roller coaster with long waits for status changes and some not getting the watches when they wanted. I sympathize with you as it has happened to me before and I hope you all get your watches soon.

What I can say is being my first Apple pre order, I'm very impressed. Very impressed that the watches are already in the countries they are going to and that Apple can orchestrate this mass overnight shipping. It's incredible that Apple is pulling this off on this scale.

Despite everything, hats off to them for getting this done as much as they could. I hope to pre order something again.

Who's with me?

I am. People just don't get how incredibly complex this must be.

Having said that, I feel sad for the people who have to wait (the ones who are NOT acting like they are four years old).

 

[jtrue28]

 

[K4LK]

Agreed with OP. An incredible feat considering how many people are getting it tomorrow. I don't think it can be considered a failure due to some orders being pushed.

Maybe I'm biased because I was charged on Monday... but still!

Not surprised you think it was a good launch. You're getting your watch tomorrow. No idea when I'll get mine. Order confirmed 4 minutes after pre-orders started.

 

[djransom]

There are many more happy customers than unhappy customers

This pretty much sums it up.

 

[michael31986]

I don't get how everyone is mad. Apple didn't lie. They gave us all estimated time frames. I mean it sucks some are getting it before others but I mean did everyone really expect to get one on the 24th. Things sell out.

 

[DavidLynch]

I don't get how everyone is mad. Apple didn't lie. They gave us all estimated time frames. I mean it sucks some are getting it before others but I mean did everyone really expect to get one on the 24th. Things sell out.

A whole lot of people got 4/24-5/8 and stopped reading at the second 4.

 

[Cabinwood]

I'm sure there are more happy customers then unhappy. Some who are waiting had the misfortune of wanting watches that were more in demand then others. I went back and forth with which one I wanted. At one point I thought I wanted the space gray but I had read that it would be very popular and would go fast. I ended up ordering a different one and it is coming tomorrow. It is unrealistic to be upset because you ordered early, one of the very popular ones, and then be upset when someone ordered a less popular one after you and is getting it tomorrow.

The one thing I think they should have done is to have the watches in the stores for seeing and try-on a couple weeks before ordering began.

 

[Phisherman81]

Launch is going great, inventory turned out to suck and the domino effect from that has soured the whole thing a little.

 

[Rayban]

After seeing the manufacture dates from another thread, I understand now why things went the way they did.

 

[hippo206]

I agree with the OP.

New product line for Apple, I thought they did a great job. To my knowledge, they did not break any promises.

Being in medical device product development, I can appreciate the challenges they had to overcome to get this out. My company has a fraction of the resources, but there is only so much $$$ or resources you can throw at something. There are always going to be bottlenecks in areas that you have no control over (even if your ).

Edit: SS watch ordered with 4/24-5/8 delivery date. No indication that I am going to receive it tomorrow.

 

[CASEACE79]

I'm not impressed with them being able to ship them out so quickly as I've seen them do it time and time again. But I am more impressed with is the fact that they had 38 different SKUs to try to guess the popularity of. For the most part they did a pretty good job.

 

[Dmal99]

The fact no one seems to be able to refute is that people who ordered the space gray 38 mm are getting boned. How do you think it feels to have people who ordered blu band yesterday get shipping notices? That's just bad planning. That, to me, is a badly planned launch.

Just out of curiosity, what would be a "bad" launch in your estimation?

 

[KPOM]

The fact no one seems to be able to refute is that people who ordered the space gray 38 mm are getting boned. How do you think it feels to have people who ordered blu band yesterday get shipping notices? That's just bad planning. That, to me, is a badly planned launch.

Have we confirmed that there was someone who actually ordered a blue sport band watch yesterday and is getting it tomorrow?

There are definitely elements of the execution of the launch that leave things to be desired, but I wouldn't call it a badly planned launch. Given whatever happened to the supply chain, having sales mostly online-only makes sense to me. Whatever the reason, they have an extremely limited supply of Space Gray watches to start with (which mostly went to the UK), black sport bands, Modern buckles, and link bands. That would be true regardless of whether it was available in store. Better to have the online sales and ship them when they are ready than have people line up and be disappointed in the stores. Most people don't log onto message boards and obsess over whether they are getting the watch on 4/24, 4/30, or 5/8, though I can see how casual buyers would be turned off by June or July.

I think the try-ons were a good idea. It was relatively easy to make appointments, and the experience was generally good. The launch in some respects is a "dry run" for the holidays, which will likely be the bigger sales push (i.e. going beyond the typical Apple fan to the more casual iPhone user). The Apple Store ordering process itself couldn't have been smoother. It takes seconds to place an order, and has been like that since the pre-orders began.

 

[Paulshaqz]

This has been a disaster from the start, I find it sad that A company the size of Apple has botched this so bad, the communication has been terrible and I feel this has gone worse than the Iphone 6/6+ launch back in the fall.

I think the iPhone 6 was still the worst but this is the second one they dropped the ball on i mean it's great some people are getting there's tomorrow but I just don't understand how people like us who ordered early get stuck in limbo it really just don't make sense to me. As much as I am a loyal and always will be a fan of Apple but I do feel this could of been a much better launch.

 

[Blacklabel34]

People who say they are impressed have no idea how badly Apple messed all this up. When you have multiple keynotes talking about a product, give a release date but delete it from your own website and miss at the very least 50% of your preorders by pushing them out 2 months.. that isn't success, that's failure. No one is on the same page at their customer service departments ether. Instead of being told what is happening and reassuring customers they'll get the devices at the time they were scheduled, what you see are people getting their devices before others. Example.. if you ordered in the first couple minutes of launch for space grey.. sorry most of us aren't getting one this week. Ah but if you check and see people who ordered hours later getting confirmations now that had dates listed in June.. yeah that's a massive slap in the face to those who were there earlier. I can go on and on at how extremely disappointed I am as well as a ton of other people are about this launch but as always people who are on the other side turn a blind eye and don't care. Just as Tim and his group of geniuses don't give a rip either.

and as a bonus item for this.. if Apple Pay is so easy and convenient then why aren't those who embraced this method not at the front of the line either? At least that would make some sense as to why orders are scattered.

Pretty much sums it up

 

[I am Sampson]

What? How can you be impressed? It's been a disgrace tbh. I had 4 Apple devices refreshing non stop with express checkout set ups well in advance and I will not be getting a launch day device. Others who ordered before me will be.

Probably the most proactive I've ever been to get a launch day device and the first time I've failed. Ordered 2 mins after apparently went live (about 15 seconds after it was live in my home).

Shocking. Absolutely shocking.

 

[bradl]

I think the iPhone 6 was still the worst but this is the second one they dropped the ball on i mean it's great some people are getting there's tomorrow but I just don't understand how people like us who ordered early get stuck in limbo it really just don't make sense to me. As much as I am a loyal and always will be a fan of Apple but I do feel this could of been a much better launch.

For those complaining about the AW launch, keep in mind that you had a functioning website where you could actually order it.

When you have had 4 or more sites all crash within an hour from everyone overloading it to where everyone caused a DoS, then find everything gone when the pieces were picked up to the point of a 2 month estimated shipping time, then even seeing those times slip, then you will have room to talk.

Until then, this is nothing.

For those that are new here or don't remember, here's a refresher:

While the websites for Apple, AT&T, Best Buy, T-Mobile, Radio Shack, and other sites around the world selling it completely crashed, orders that were confirmed were taken back as not confirmed, and a near immediate change from "available now" to 6 - 9 weeks estimated shipping, in less than 2 hours. And after advertising the White iPhone 4, none were available at launch. NONE.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/938211/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/939357/

The only people who were able to buy the phone in store on launch day were those who made reservations for it. Anyone walking in was waiting in line a long, LONG time.

Apple's site: dead. ATT's site: dead. T-Mobile's site: dead. Best Buy's site: dead. Radio Shack's site: dead. Optus, Telstra, 3, Rogers, Canada Bell, Vodafone, Orange. All of these sites crashed, with some of them physically crashing because they could not handle the onslaught of people trying to buy the phone.

Then on top of that, after Steve himself stated in that keynote that there would be a White iPhone 4 available at launch, it wasn't available at all, and not for another 4 months after that.

Again, this is absolutely nothing, and watches were ordered and shipped when they said they were, not like the iPhone 4, which incurred anywhere from 6 weeks to 5 months of delays.

Search this forum, and you'll find some 30 - 40 page threads on how bad the iPhone 4 launch was.

BL.

 

[KPOM]

I think its a horrible launch, but maybe thats because I am an :01 order still processing.

Well, I overslept my alarm, ordered it 2 hours after the launch, and am getting it tomorrow, so it's the best launch ever, as far as I'm concerned.

Seriously, though, this launch has been mixed. Elements have been great. The try-ons were a good idea. The ordering process was smooth, and there is something refreshing about an Apple product launch that doesn't have TV crews standing outside Apple stores the day before filming people(many scalpers) camping out on the street.

That said, yes, the supply chain issues were definitely on display here. I doubt any of it was intentional, and at the end of the day, it's better to ship what you have as soon as you have it at the risk of under-promising and over-delivering to some, and leaving others thinking that they were shafted because they got a 4/24-5/8 window but aren't receiving their orders tomorrow (I fully expect they will all arrive by 5/8, though).