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Looking for those with cooler heads

Y

yogibeartacodog

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 20, 2013
32
0
I understand the frustration of those who can't get a watch until May or June.

With that out of the way, does anyone agree that the preorder method allows more watches to get into the hands of fanatics and early adopters?

We knew the watch would sell out at some point, and removing the uncertainty of waiting overnight in line sounds like a good thing.
Why arbitrarily hold some back just to disappoint customers who wait at stores, to find the model they want it sold out?
So they sold out during the preorder, they are certainly making the watches as fast as possible.

Anyway, there seems to be a lot of complaints about how this launch was handled. Who else thinks this was logistically the best option?

TL;DR:
Who thinks everything's is going to be ok?
 
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
 
I didn't really understand the whole online only thing at first, but when someone mentioned the fact that its not like the iphone, where u just pick a color and grab one - there are so many different choices, it would have been a nightmare.

So now i understand the online only model
 
yogibeartacodog said:
Anyway, there seems to be a lot of complaints about how this launch was handled. Who else thinks this was logistically the best option?
Click to expand...

People don't like to be inconvenienced and have become masters of feigning outrage when those minor inconveniences happen.

Just my opinion as always.
 
OllyW said:
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

I agree with this 100%. I'm wondering how much money they are going to lose on unprecedented returns from the buy-two-try-them-on-and-return-one crowd. Furthermore, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see official refurbished devices becoming easier to purchase through Apple than brand new units.
 
OllyW said:
I think that making it online pre-orders only was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. I have no problem with the exclusive online pre-order. What I found odd is that they waited until after pre-order to make fitting reservations available. By this time many models were back-order through June.

It also took them nearly 5 days after pre-orders began to add the more guided tour videos, and they are still missing 3 of them. Vague product information like "two bands" led many to believe they were getting something different than the "3 piece" explanation they just updated.

It just felt a little rushed and confusing IMO, but I think it's getting better day by day.
 
OllyW said:
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

Agreed, communication should have been better from the get go.
 
My only complaint was that they didn't get the product out to the stores to preview and try on BEFORE offering the chance to preorder it. I think that would sensibly have cut down on the number of people ordering and canceling or returning watches that end up being unsuitable to their tastes in person.

There was also failure to effectively communicate a purchase limit in the initial hours of the preorder period.

Beyond that, I don't really see Apple having any other options if their supplies truly are as constrained as they seem to be. I do think the way they're handling it at least cuts down on the problem of people being paid cash to buy product and send it off to be scalped in other countries.

None of this is ideal. Ideally they'd have sufficient supply to meet online preorder demand and have some stock in store for customers to purchase during try-on appointments. But I don't know enough about their business to say this ideal for this particular kind of product could have reasonably been met with better planning and management.

Overall there's a weird non-Apple feel to this rollout. But the scalper problem had apparently reached critical mass and they had to do something.

Edit to add...whoops I was typing as yours posted. You said the same thing far more succinctly!
 
I think people are just frustrated at the short supply, and that the pre-order was the best of a bad situation.

The real question is: would people have preferred the launch date to be June, then everyone gets theirs at the same time, or April 24 but not everyone gets one until June?

Not that I think launching with an enormous inventory is even possible the way Apple tightly controls supply by manufacturing to demand. The last thing they want is to build 7 million Apple Watches and only sell 5. Better to have 500,000 ready, take pre-orders, then build to order as the factories ramp up production.
 
Apple had to do something about the ridiculous lines, it was a matter of time before people got hurt, they also had to address the problem of scalpers. The result was to pre-order online only.

Also Apple was not sure how popular the device would be, so they had to control initial production.

Even with the sold out pre-orders, the scalpers have snapped up many units, I am sure apple has an automated process to sort through these orders and cancel the obvious ones.

I say we give this approach a go, those ridiculous lines mainly filled with scalpers were getting embarrassing for apple in my opinion.
 
I don't think there is a problem with the online-only approach in that it saves a wasted trip lining up at the store on launch day... I think the issue is more with the bad/misinformation surrounding launch dates, preorder dates, instore availability, flip-flopping & lack of clarity from Apple itself... nobody seems to really know what is going on -even today's latest information is supposedly only a leak, after all.
 
OllyW said:
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

Again... Someone talking sense here...? You have got to be kidding me :D

Having said that, I dont really think Apple had no choice but NOT to provide stores with AW, due to the high demand. People would go nuts, if they had pre-ordered at 8.01am uk time (or whenever the local start was), delivery date moved to beginning of May and then people were able to walk in and buy a watch in the store. Well, I think I would have been pretty annoyed myself.

Thats also the reason why i think that most, if not all pre-orders will be delivered on April 24th. April will receive a massive backlash if there are tens of thousands pre-orders not delivered.

Here is hope anyway.
 
Last edited:
I think this was the most fair approach as it truly gives customers the watch on a first come first serve basis. When I preordered the iPhone 6, I was extremely frustrated that people could pick it up in stores while I had to wait over a month. I'd feel the same way about the watch if that were the case.
 
OllyW said:
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

This, particularly the bit about having demo watches in stores sooner. Imagine if all those people who double pre-ordered because they weren't sure on size hadn't needed to do so. I don't know how many people actually did that, but it seems like a non-trivial issue.
 
Vanilla Face said:
I think this was the most fair approach as it truly gives customers the watch on a first come first serve basis. When I preordered the iPhone 6, I was extremely frustrated that people could pick it up in stores while I had to wait over a month. I'd feel the same way about the watch if that were the case.
Click to expand...

I never felt that way about preorder vs in store purchase on launch day. People can spend a few minutes getting up at inconvenient times and preordering, or they can spend several hours in line to get it on launch day. Seems "fair" to me.

I was up at 3 am EST to preorder the watch, and I have a delivery date of
May 13-27. If the watch was going to be available for purchase in store on April 24, I'd go stand in line, and if I am able to buy one, I'd cancel my preorder. But if I chose not to stand in line and wait for my preorder to be delivered, I wouldn't complain about people who go to stores on launch day getting it before I do. It is my choice that I didn't go stand in line.
 
i'm going to echo what other's have said: should have had the watches available for try on BEFORE presale want live. and should have been more forthcoming with information about ordering limits, none in stores AT ALL, etc.

i think online with first come first served is best because i, too was extremenly irritated that people that didn't preorder at midnight got to pick up their phones on launch day whereas they conveniently put mine into "preparing for shipping" mode so that i couldn't cancel and pick one up.
 
OllyW said:
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

This. 100 percent.

Even with the massive, successful preorders at Apple, there will be some significant return or exchange numbers, especially because it's such a personal device. There will be people who want to move to Stainless Steel, and others who want to downgrade to Aluminum, and others who just want the other shade of Stainless Steel or Aluminum. Then, there is, of course, the issue with the right bands - unless people are willing to just blow an extra $50-250 for another band.

So, how do I think they could have made the launch more successful and streamlined?
  • Demo all the WATCH models in the Apple Stores a month prior to the preorder.
  • After try-ons, have Apple store reps set up their favorites in the Apple Store app or website.
  • After two or three weeks, tally up the favorites to gauge preorder expectations of certain models.
  • Offer initial preorders of the WATCH and bands separately.
  • After launch and inventories level out, then begin to offer bundled WATCHes with the bands.
 
My recent thought was that since it was a brand new product, Apple had no idea how many to produce of which. So release it online only and see what sells the best, then scale production based on what sold the best.

But the best scenario would have been to have the try on appointments occur before preorders so that Apple would have a better sense of what customers actually want/prefer versus people ordering through impulse/online photos.
 
I am the same opinion. They should have had at least display case on show prior to the pre order. I ordered ss with sports band but having been for a try on have ordered an leather loop. So Apple I guess will be happy as its cost me an extra £40 on buying the watch with leather loop only.
 
OllyW said:
I think that only having online pre-orders was the correct decision.

What I think was wrong were the mixed messages and indecisive information coming from Apple prior to the 10th. They should also have had the demo watches in store weeks before pre-orders went live so people could see and try them before they had to commit their choice to order.
Click to expand...

Right on the money. Love the preorder only and have stood in enough long Apple lines to last a lifetime (iPhone 4 the WORST). While I knew what I wanted Apple should have allowed everyone at least a couple of weeks to try on before the preorder period.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
So, how do I think they could have made the launch more successful and streamlined?
  • Demo all the WATCH models in the Apple Stores a month prior to the preorder.
  • After try-ons, have Apple store reps set up their favorites in the Apple Store app or website.
  • After two or three weeks, tally up the favorites to gauge preorder expectations of certain models.
  • Offer initial preorders of the WATCH and bands separately.
  • After launch and inventories level out, then begin to offer bundled WATCHes with the bands.
Click to expand...

If they couldn't unbundle the watches, then, at least add:
Inform us as to which watches wouldn't be "available" *at all* on the 24th.
 
Uccle said:
If they couldn't unbundle the watches, then, at least add:
Inform us as to which watches wouldn't be "available" *at all* on the 24th.
Click to expand...

Just realized that the WATCH could've been handled like Macs: build-to-order configurations is done online, standard configurations are available in stores.
 
Try-ons prior to pre-order would have alleviated a lot of doubt and stress along with unnecessary orders. At least it would have for me.
 
Lol, I made this thread to point out the merits of the way the watch launch has been handled. We seem to have found something to complain about anyway.

I agree with the consensus above, though. A month of in-store demos followed by online preorders would have been perfect. Apple would have been able to gather data on which models would've most popular, and get a rough idea of overall demand.

Maybe next time!

Thanks for the thoughtful replies.
 
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