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Friday Morning Quarterbacking - AKA What Could Apple Have Done Differently?

K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,333
8,346
I get it. Lots of people here are angry because some of us are getting Watches tomorrow (including some in the May and June windows) while others aren't, even though they are in the 4/24-5/8 window. The point of this thread is to discuss what, specifically, Apple could have done differently to keep all sides happy. Here are some alternatives I can think of.

1) Should they have thrown caution to the wind, produced massive quantities of every watch model in advance, and had them all in stores? The upside is we could have had a "traditional" launch. The downside is that they would have had a lot of excess stock. It seems they overestimated demand for the white and blue sport bands as it is.

2) Should they produced a bunch of Sport watches for in store purchase on the 24th, figuring the techie crowd who wants everything on Day 1 would be skewed to the cheapest versions anyway, and relied on pre-orders for the pricier ones? There's somewhat less risk than alternative 1) (though they would still have had the issue with the blue sport band), but we'd probably have a lot of people angry that stainless steel buyers were getting "shafted" in the process.

3) Should they have accepted pre-orders for a longer period of time in advance of the formal launch? They may have gotten more accurate numbers for pre-production, but then they might have gotten a lot more cancellations because of the drawn out process.

4) Should they have delayed the launch even further until they got all their production and supply issues sorted? We're already at the end of "Early 2015."

Any other ideas?
 
First, don't call it a pre-order. They should have said at the keynote that the watch will be available for order exclusively through apple.com or the app on April 10 and begin shipping April 24.
Second, at least have it on display in stores for some period of time before April 10 so people could see what they are going to buy. Try-on appointments would have been even better if possible. Something about buying their "most personal device ever" in the least personal way just seemed weird to me.
Third, sometime after the Keynote change the website to add a disclaimer making it perfectly clear that the watch will only be sold online initially. "Only available through apple.com or the Apple Store app" would have done the trick.
 
rick snagwell said:
we should all be in line at our favourite apple store awaiting doors to open!

its a damn tradition.
Click to expand...

Not for me. I've never waited in a launch day line. I got my iPhone 4S about 2-3 weeks after it launched. I pre-ordered the iPhone 5. I lucked out and found an iPhone 5s in a store on launch Saturday (but had a pre-order that I wound up cancelling), and I pre-ordered the iPhone 6. My first iPad was the original Retina iPad ("3"). No launch day lines. I skipped the iPad 4, and pre-ordered the iPad mini and Air 2.

I don't get the allure of waiting in long lines. I'd rather have it sent to me.
 
Here's a shocker

Limit the initial batch of wrist bands, they've already shown of different ones than what are available, why not hold back until the 2nd gen?

It's a real shame and a HUGE disappointment that the watch itself is not what's holding back shipments, but rather the band... Seriously? Apple, the bigget company in the world is unable to fill orders that were placed within the first 10 minutes of the pre order going live, because of the band.

They could have had these made, in any quantity LONG before the watch was even done.

Hopefully the plan is to make the band compatible with different versions, in which case, what does it matter how many they produced initially?

Either way, they screwed up on the bands, so they should have made more in hindsight.
 
Number one failure, by far, is shipping estimates being a complete lie / joke.

If the black watch is super delayed and the blue watch is shipping tomorrow then TELL PEOPLE and let them make a decision. Don't say both are shipping in "June". Let people make an educated decision based on when the products will actually ship, not based upon a date which we all know is a lie.

This is Apple here, they KNOW when the products will ship, within a small margin. They KNOW that the blue watch isn't delayed until June!! Why continue the lie??!?
 
I think the 'Try on' period should have started 2 weeks before ordering opened up.

That way, people would have had a perfect idea of which one they wqnted and not needed to order multiples.
 
thefredelement said:
It's a real shame and a HUGE disappointment that the watch itself is not what's holding back shipments, but rather the band... Seriously? Apple, the bigget company in the world is unable to fill orders that were placed within the first 10 minutes of the pre order going live, because of the band.

They could have had these made, in any quantity LONG before the watch was even done.

Hopefully the plan is to make the band compatible with different versions, in which case, what does it matter how many they produced initially?

Either way, they screwed up on the bands, so they should have made more in hindsight.
Click to expand...

It's not just the bands as it is also the space gray Sport that seems to be in short supply (as well as the Space Black stainless steel), and supposedly Quanta was having yield issues with the OLED display. That said, they could have had more bands ready to avoid another bottleneck.
 
:apple:: hey guys/gals, so we're going to be delivering the much awaited watches tomorrow. here's what's happening.. <insert honest :apple: communication>.

its incredibly ironic that angela, with her vast high end fashion customer experience doesnt seem to translate any of that into :apple:. yes, its a supply chain issue but transparency/communication is in not.

OH WAIT. AHA HA HA. for a second there, i thought she was hired to improve the customer experience to make all purchases and interactions with :apple: products a magical one instead of drawing in the fashion crowd$$ to :apple:. my bad!
 
Sell the watch with default black/white band, less SKUS to manage, and easy to mass produce, with an option for BTO as well, incase someone doesn't want to throw away the default band.

So customer get the whole watch experience since they are being shipped with a default band. That way, you can walk into the store and buy one immediately. Right now, everything is BTO. Ofcourse, BTO will be delayed, and expectation will be set.

That way apple can just produce more bands as per the demand in color/style etc without holding the whole shipment.
 
jaykk said:
Sell the watch with default black/white band, less SKUS to manage, and easy to mass produce, with an option for BTO as well, incase someone doesn't want to throw away the default band.

So customer get the whole watch experience since they are being shipped with a default band. That way, you can walk into the store and buy one immediately. Right now, everything is BTO. Ofcourse, BTO will be delayed, and expectation will be set.

That way apple can just produce more bands as per the demand in color/style etc without holding the whole shipment.
Click to expand...

Then the other colors can be sold as an extra!
 
/dev/toaster said:
Try on appointments should have been the week before pre-orders. You would see far less people ordering both sizes.
Click to expand...


This is my biggest issue. I was one of the first to order, but changed my mind, AFTER seeing it in person, and selecting the one that I really wanted. So now, instead of getting 2 watches today or next week, I have to wait until June.
 
FSUSem1noles said:
No offense to others but with such limited quantities they should have delayed release in other countries.
Click to expand...

Nice to see another Nole! Go NOLES!

Anyway, "processing". Change the terminology. In Que or something to that matter. Processing gives the idea that they are in the midst of processing an order. that takes about a day. in que for processing is different.

Also, make more damn watches. You announced last year!

Definitely takes the excitement out of receiving the watch. Which is the whole point of Apple and their pre ordering. Because, no matter, its just another gadget, and if im starting to live vicariously through youtubers, and that may be enough watch for me.
 
rick snagwell said:
we should all be in line at our favourite apple store awaiting doors to open!

its a damn tradition.
Click to expand...

I actually agree with you (at least that we should have had the option--assuming more stock was available). I don't upgrade my iPad every generation. I do my iPhone. To me it's Apple's flagship device and I buy a new one every year. It's the only product I queue up for because I still have an unlimited data plan and I can't preorder without losing it. Waiting in line all night, you have a feeling of camaraderie with your fellow Apple fans. It's a nice feeling. The mood is festive, if not celebratory. The conversations are positive. And it feels like "work" to a degree, so when you do receive your phone...you feel as though you've done something to deserve it.

Compared that to online-only ordering, which sends us into a forum like this to share our excitement--where we're anonymous behind screen names to talk about the "retail" experience...and it turns ugly fast. We all (myself included) turn into whiny, entitled brats. I hate that feeling. And there's no "work" to it, and so it makes the feeling even worse, in my opinion.

I also agree that try-on appointments the week before preorders going live would have improved the stock situation, even if only mildly.
 
Last edited:
thefredelement said:
Here's a shocker

Limit the initial batch of wrist bands, they've already shown of different ones than what are available, why not hold back until the 2nd gen?
Click to expand...

I assume that the rubber band costs next to nothing. Let's say $5.

Apple should have sold ALL watches with a white Tim Cook style band and you could try different ones in the store and buy them.

There is no need to complicate the packaging by having to consider the combinations people actually ordered.

Just sell them in white, invite people to buy bands in store, including the experience.
 
Rogifan said:
Just what we need, another thread on this. Sigh.
Click to expand...

Just letting people vent. For the most part the responses are reinforcing my view that Apple Retail did the best with what they could, and that only a "one-size fits all" approach, for which Apple is often criticized, could have satisfied the harshest critics of the launch.

I don't like the idea of shipping all watches with the same band and having other bands be a separate purchase. Sure I've already ordered 2 extra bands for mine, but with an article of clothing or jewelry I like ordering what I want and not what someone else tells me I should want.

----------
cwosigns said:
I actually agree with you (at least that we should have had the option--assuming more stock was available). I don't upgrade my iPad every generation. I do my iPhone. To me it's Apple's flagship device and I buy a new one every year. It's the only product I queue up for because I still have an unlimited data plan and I can't preorder without losing it.

I also agree that try-on appointments the week before preorders going live would have improved the stock situation, even if only mildly.
Click to expand...

Technically, even with a Verizon plan you can purchase the T-Mobile iPhone and swap your SIM and it will work. With the new voluntary agreement in place Verizon should even allow activating new plans using compatible phones from other carriers. I would not be surprised if Apple sells the SIM-free unlocked iPhone from Day 1 with this year's launch. That would let everyone pre-order. This should be a more normal upgrade cycle (ie not a huge increase from last year) so Apple shouldn't have the same supply issues they did this year.
 
pmau said:
I assume that the rubber band costs next to nothing. Let's say $5.



Apple should have sold ALL watches with a white Tim Cook style band and you could try different ones in the store and buy them.



There is no need to complicate the packaging by having to consider the combinations people actually ordered.



Just sell them in white, invite people to buy bands in store, including the experience.
Click to expand...


This is my feeling, or at least white and black.

I also think they should have narrowed down that shipping window for people who were obviously not going to get it today--see the pink band thread. Removing the 24th from the date range would have avoided a lot of people still hoping for a miracle this morning and then feeling disappointed.
 
The biggest problem now is that you simply don't believe their delivery estimates. When June estimates went out today and first window deliveries haven't even passed processing yet something went wrong.

Someone mentioned they had something like 38 different SKU's which should have been a red flag right away. Less SKU's at launch would have been much easier to manage, especially on a product which is such an unknown in many ways.
 
Launch should have been delayed until the product was ready. Obviously there is a problem with Space Gray as I don't read many (if any) that have shipped.

Apparently, the silver with blue band was overproduced. I would have ordered that AND had it today since I ordered at 3:01AM EST.

My Space Gray sport still says May 13-27, but at this rate, I don't believe anything Apple has to say.
 
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