I think all the Apple defenders are missing the point... To give my own example, it would have been physically impossible for me to order any faster than I did... I began my order process right when the store was open and checked out immediately -yet my delivery window is in May and I didn't even get a sniff of the magical "April 24". There was NOTHING I could have changed to have received a watch on Friday from Apple. So that is where the frustration with this process lies for me. I've never missed a Day 1 release yet, and I've done plenty of early morning "F5-ing" in my time.
So defend Apple all you want (I love their products too, I just got my new MacBook on Friday), but there was never even close to enough stock to justify the "April 24" campaign.
I think all the complainers are missing reality. Apple needs no defense beyond a simple (likely) truth: they produced as many of their brand new product as they physically could using the best estimate they could generate of demand across several different countries, and they are selling and delivering them with the best model that is available. Despite those assets (paired with every incentive to sell people watches ASAP and no incentive to disappoint anyone) they could never have satisfied 100% of buyers due to various unknowns, blindspots, and bottlenecks in the supply chain.
As far as we are concerned, the simple reality is that more people showed up to buy an Apple Watch than was convenient for you (and those of us still waiting; my 42SGSport was in at xx:07:50 thanks to Apple Pay needing updates). Not to pick on you specifically because hundreds on here are guilty of this, but basically any alteration anyone here would make to this process is merely meant to expedite one order over others. The cards played as they did. You got your order in when you could, and you still have to wait. No, there's nothing you could have done differently to get one sooner, but you had the same opportunity everyone else had, which is another way to describe this process as "fair".
So get over it. Let it go. It'll get there when it gets there. A watched pot never boils. Other cliches.
Could Apple have improved this experience at all? Most likely, but the suggestions here are not only baised toward one's own circumstances, they are offered in hindsight of the insatiable demand we saw on April 10th. At best you're saying the April 24th date was indefensible (which makes no difference to when you take ownership of the watch), yet many orders were delivered that day (we have no clue how many; nothing can be deduced from this highly selective sample of obsessed forum dwellers). What else could they do? There had to be a launch date of some kind. Using the website was the best way to allocate the limited resources (how many times did they warn us?!?) that had to be divided into upwards of 38 different watch styles. Imagine if they tried to determine how many of each style to send to each retail outlet. Imagine lines of people with 38 different preferences. That launch would have been the true disaster you think this launch is, similar to now but far worse: Most would go home empty-handed or buy a piece of jewelry they don't like; a few would show up late to buy the model no one else wanted. Apple provided the best possible launch with imperfect but ample information; they owe you nothing beyond that, and you are entitled to even less.
We are 1 business day into the launch and Apple is already ahead of schedule. If all the June preorders are fulfilled by mid May, it will have been a hugely successful launch in all eyes but those who couldn't be patient for a few more days. There's no detail about this experience that can justify the intense emotional reactions people seem to be having to this first-world problem. This is a great opportunity to remind ourselves of the real misery some people experience in this world. Please remember that whenever your emotional state deviates from neutral.
But actually I'm fairly pleased nonetheless; I kind of expected things to be rolling out exactly as they have.
