Only if they had the knowledge on April 10th that my watch (and yours) would arrive during that week. Giving an estimate of 'June' is much more realistic.
Except, it wasn't more realistic. See: Changing all June dates to the last week. But I digress:
They also said, in that same communique, that some customers would still continue to face long lead times. Given that the black stainless steel watch was almost instantly relegated to a June delivery date, assuming that our specific model would suddenly jump forward dramatically would've been inappropriately optimistic. Cherry picking advantageous wording from a message while willfully ignoring the parts that may not align with what one wants to hear is not a recipe for happiness.
No reason to believe that means SBSS. It isn't cherry picking; while it didn't say all, Apple expressed confidence, which gives no reason to assume a worst case scenario.
Not a lie. People received Watches on the 24th. Did everyone that want one get one on the 24th? Of course not. This is true of almost every tech product launch in the history of tech product launches. Supply and demand are tricky consorts and it's entirely impractical for any company, including Apple, to build up enough of a supply chain to satisfy initial demand completely concurrently and on the same day. Even if it were possible to do this, it would be a massive waste of resources: demand is never as high as it is on the initial offering and all the infrastructure required to support such a flood of requests would be money wasted starting on day '2' of the launch.
Apple pulled that from marketing materials. It isn't that "everyone got one on the 24th" as much as "Probably no more than 5% of orders were fulfilled by the 24th" though Apple isn't being forthcoming. I do know I was able to get an iPhone on launch day, no pre-order, repeatedly. This seemed far tighter, and far more exclusive. Not saying everyone had to get one. But I live in NYC and have never seen one in the wild; this to me suggests very few people have actually gotten it. These message boards cannot count as a general sample of the public.
Also, so far, every human being that has received an Apple Watch since launch has received it in the Spring. Additionally, it looks like the vast majority of pre-orders will ship before spring concludes. A couple of select models may not be, but there's never a guarantee when a company launches a product with a wide array of variability that every combination will be available to everyone that wants it right away. I'm not sure where this expectation came from.
I'm not sure I consider June to be Spring. But even so, when someone says "Spring 2015" it would be reasonable to expect a high bulk of shipments halfway, or May 1. This was simply not the case.
This is disingenuous. Nobody likes bad faith, etc. The difference is that I don't see this as an issue of bad faith or lies of any sort. I get that people are anxious to get their watches, but when we put our money down on April 10th knowing we'd get it sometime in June, and it looks like we will get them in June, asserting that bad faith and lies have been practiced is misplaced anxiety.
I disagree that it is disingenuous. You're justifying incompetence. Apple could've said "Ships by June 30th" and I probably would've complained on launch day, but I doubt I would be complaining, say, in June. But to each their own. I think that saying "June" does not include June 1-21 is very bad faith, and if nothing else, says that unless you ordered within the first few minutes of the launch, you weren't getting your watch in Spring. And when you're fighting over positions so close, and within the first hour, I think this is a key point. Apple essentially has given us a date closer to July 1 than June 1, and possibly closer to July than even the mid-point in June.
I'm a customer. I'm definitely a stock holder. I think Apple has handled the huge demand for this brand new product category in an admirable fashion. It's understandable that some customers will feel entitled to a level that will see them flinging disparaging epithets at the company because they didn't have the ability to deliver what they wanted instantly (or within the customer's singular, personal 'feeling' for when it should be delivered), but so far Apple has communicated upfront when they thought the product would be available and, to date, has been delivering on those promises without fail.
It isn't that Apple didn't deliver what I wanted instantly. I pulled the trigger on June knowing full well what I was getting into, again, assuming a delivery near the beginning of June, or at least the mid-point since it was within a half hour of launch. My mistake. But Apple could've still said that "June" meant "Summer" at best. They didn't. They then said it might not be so bad. And kept it vague while giving people in July "June 29th" dates-not to say they deserve their watches so late at all. But if they could give them earlier dates, certainly Apple could've had the worst case dates weeks ago. They didn't, and this is why it seems like a huge, inexcusable lie.
I'm still going to buy the watch, mostly because I'm curious. I may like or dislike the watch. I can still return it if I dislike it. But make no mistake, this launch was horribly bungled. Apple's gadget wasn't ready for prime time when it was announced with a vague date. Marketing materials changed to the actual launch point. Components seem to have not been tested ruining the initial mass production run. Anyone who thinks that this launch has been professional in any way...I simply cannot understand. This product may be a good product and this will probably all be forgotten about soon. It'll probably sell well. But that doesn't mean this is a good launch, and it is certainly a very frustrating one. Had I known what I know now, if I were to order it, I would've simply gotten a blue sport.
And that's the most frustrating part of all. I feel punished for buying a higher priced model.
