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Is this year Apple's messiest launch week roll out?

rosegoldoli

rosegoldoli

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 21, 2019
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This is my first time participating in new apple products on launch week and most everyone here and people i know in real life are having issues with getting their phone or watch today.

Someone from experience, is this Apple's messiest launch week or were there others in the past that were worse?

EDIT: I am not an affected party. Just asking out of curiosity 😉
 
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Preordered my 40mm aluminium GPS the very same day preorders opened, took pickup to be SURE I would have it without shipping problems, and still... got this message this morning :(

IMG_0732.jpeg
 
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What exactly is messy?

I was able to place my order on the 10th with no issue. It is presently out-for-delivery and I'm watching the UPS truck's progress via UPS's Follow My Delivery map.
 
deeddawg said:
What exactly is messy?

I was able to place my order on the 10th with no issue. It is presently out-for-delivery and I'm watching the UPS truck's progress via UPS's Follow My Delivery map.
Click to expand...

I have been able to follow the truck's progress in the past, but can't seem to find where to do that today. Wonder what I'm doing wrong...
 
rosegoldoli said:
two friends in real life who preordered on day one aren't getting it today 🤷‍♂️

look at message #2 on this thread, ive been seeing that a lot today
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Seems about on par for what I've seen in prior years. Sucks for the people individually affected, though, which perhaps is coloring the perception.
 
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I placed my orders seamlessly, 1 has been delivered, the other is on the truck to my house. Websites were always fast and responsive and it seemed they had reasonable stock to allow for orders if you were ready at launch.
 
rosegoldoli said:
This is my first time participating in new apple products on launch week and most everyone here and people i know in real life are having issues with getting their phone or watch today.

Someone from experience, is this Apple's messiest launch week or were there others in the past that were worse?
Click to expand...


I don’t think this launch is messy at all. Apple tells you when your item will be delivered when you order it. And chances are they try and beat their own delivery dates and many times they’re successful. So I’m not sure you are of your particular situation why you think it’s the messiest ever and yes there have been far worse where my phone one time wasn’t even delivered till Saturday

I placed the order for my watch within three minutes of the keynote ending and I was able to place the order for my new iPhone Pro Max within two minutes of it going live. both of my items are here locally and out for delivery already and I’m hoping they make good on their commitment date of today for delivery
 
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Interesting..so this is normal for launch day?
[automerge]1568995678[/automerge]
Dstopsie said:
I don’t think this launch is messy at all. Apple tells you when your item will be delivered when you order it. And chances are they try and beat their own delivery dates and many times they’re successful. So I’m not sure you are of your particular situation why you think it’s the messiest ever and yes there have been far worse where my phone one time wasn’t even delivered till Saturday
Click to expand...

im asking out of curiosity 😅 people seem to be getting a bit stand offish on the question
 
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Apple Watch launches typically never have that many issues, as most seem to pre-order as it is, unless you live near an Apple store. The iPhone, is a totally different story, as there’s far more notoriety that follows that specific device on launch day versus the Apple Watch. However, when the first Apple Watch launch in April 2015, _that_ was a disaster.
 
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It's certainly been much better than:
  • 2010 where a white model of the iPhone 4 was announced but didn't ship.
  • 2013 where the gold iPhone 5S was impossible to find, and IIRC, there was no launch day delivery stock, nor in-store reservations, for the gold. You had to queue up.
  • 2014 where the Plus was likewise very scarce.
  • 2016 where Plus models were even more scarce, and the model that Apple advertised most heavily - jet black Plus - wasn't available anywhere on launch day.
This year supplies are pretty good overall.
 
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Relentless Power said:
Apple Watch launches typically never have that many issues, as most seem to pre-order as it is, unless you live near an Apple store. The iPhone, is a totally different story, as there’s far more notoriety that follows that specific device on launch day versus the Apple Watch. However, when the first Apple Watch launch in April 2015, _that_ was a disaster.
Click to expand...

ooooh what happened during the apple watch launch day?
 
deeddawg said:
It shows on the My Delivery Planner calendar from UPS My Choice - Try https://wwwapps.ups.com/mcdp/?loc=en_US

Alternately try this URL, fill in your tracking # after the = https://www.ups.com/wmd/map/request?z=
[automerge]1568994171[/automerge]
Click to expand...
Hmm, shows up as unavailable for my tracking number. Oh well, thanks for the help!
[automerge]1568996205[/automerge]
deeddawg said:
It shows on the My Delivery Planner calendar from UPS My Choice - Try https://wwwapps.ups.com/mcdp/?loc=en_US

Alternately try this URL, fill in your tracking # after the = https://www.ups.com/wmd/map/request?z=
[automerge]1568994171[/automerge]
Click to expand...
Hmm, shows up as unavailable for my tracking number. Oh well, thanks for the help!
[automerge]1568996205[/automerge]
deeddawg said:
It shows on the My Delivery Planner calendar from UPS My Choice - Try https://wwwapps.ups.com/mcdp/?loc=en_US

Alternately try this URL, fill in your tracking # after the = https://www.ups.com/wmd/map/request?z=
[automerge]1568994171[/automerge]
Click to expand...
Hmm, shows up as unavailable for my tracking number. Oh well, thanks for the help!
 
Brookzy said:
There weren't any.
Click to expand...

Nope, that wasn’t it. Actually, quite the opposite, the aluminum was plenty available on launch day, what happened was, there was no stainless models available, even for those who pre-ordered, weren’t receiving their stainless models. I mean, there were forum members who were expected to receive their stainless model on launch day, and didn’t receive it until three months later. That was the problem, Apples ordering queue system trajectory was off. [ Oh, not to mention, there was no accessories that were available on launch day hardly at all either, everything from watch bands to chargers were already sold out.]
 
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Relentless Power said:
[ Oh, not to mention, there was no accessories that were available on launch day hardly at all either, everything from watch bands to chargers were already sold out.]
Click to expand...

you know i never expected the general public to buy the $50 watch bands until me myself has seen the light. to be sold out on launch day is insane (always preorder ur bands ppl!)
 
rosegoldoli said:
Interesting..so this is normal for launch day?
Click to expand...

Yes it's normal that with tons of orders, some number of them will have a hiccup.

Is that number greater this year than in prior years? Dunno. Doesn't seem like it, but difficult to say for sure since we don't have any way to see real verifiable numbers.
 
My personal favorite was the year they screwed up the signature pre-authorization with ups, which meant that anyone who wasn’t physically present to sign for the package had to drive to their nearest UPS hub and wait for hours if you still wanted it on launch day. Now that was a zoo. That was iPhone 6 if I remember.
 
The first year was crazy because everyone wanted one, and they sold out damn fast (especially anything black), and some of the popular models didn't even start shipping until months later. So ordering, shipping, and pickup were chaotic. I managed to order a stainless steel space black with stainless steel black band for its November launch day, because I was up at 3am to order as soon as they became available, and those versions became such a hot commodity I sold the order for like $600 extra, and used the extra money to get an aluminum space black with leather band for "free" (I decided the stainless steel was more expensive than I should spend at the time).
 
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Ups didn’t get my phone on the truck this morning, and their website said the cc was only open Monday through Wednesday, so I raced over to the cc and one of the workers grabbed it out of the pile and let me sign for it. So a bit of stress but not much of an issue.
 
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Relentless Power said:
Nope, that wasn’t it. Actually, quite the opposite, the aluminum was plenty available on launch day, what happened was, there was no stainless models available, even for those who pre-ordered, weren’t receiving their stainless models. I mean, there were forum members who were expected to receive their stainless model on launch day, and didn’t receive it until three months later. That was the problem, Apples ordering queue system trajectory was off. [ Oh, not to mention, there was no accessories that were available on launch day hardly at all either, everything from watch bands to chargers were already sold out.]
Click to expand...
Absolutely no first gen Apple Watch models were in plentiful supply at the start, regardless of finish, although yes the stainless was worse off, and the Space Black did not ship until late June. From the get go, the best you could get in any size/finish was "Delivers: 24 April - 08 May" making it the first (hard) Apple launch in modern times where no models were 'guaranteed' (for want of a better word) for launch day delivery.

Many, including myself, hoped for launch day delivery (and I got lucky with a stainless arriving 24 April) but no one ought to have expected it with that delivery estimate.

There was also no in-store stock at all, no reservations and no walk-ins, until June, with the exception of some one-off boutique stores. So I can't see how there were "plenty available".

Hence my summation, "there weren't any".

The first Apple Watch was late, but still shipped before the supply chain was ready, because it was as late as possible while still technically meeting the "early 2015" promise. It spoke volumes that watchOS 2 was announced just two months after the first models landed in customers' hands.
 
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