I think the real problem here is the end customer making assumptions.
Well it's not unreasonable for customers to have the expectation that the ordering process will proceed fairly closely to the way it's been conducted before, even for a new category of product. The customer IS paying hard earned money not just for the product itself but also for Apple's reputation for customer service and satisfaction.
The problem is not in the customer making assumptions. The problem is that Apple failed to do its own business as usual. They HAVE been slipping. With only a few exceptions here and there, it used to be so easy for us to hold out our money and for Apple to take it. Not lately. It's not just the Apple Watch. My husband was not able to get his hands on the new MacBook in time for an upcoming trip. He went to the Apple Store well after the launch of the MacBook to take a look at it. He decided he wanted it. They told him to order it online. Really, standing in a store that supposedly sells Apple products, he was told to go home and order it online. So he tried to. Current availability for his configuration is 4-6 weeks! The trip is in 2 weeks.
Apple is still a behemoth and can go ahead and become arrogant and abuse the customer's good will, but only up to a point. Then they will go the way of other companies and someone else will note Apple's mistakes and step up.
This Apple Watch has been widely touted as a product very personal to the wearer. Yet it's been sold in an unprecedentedly impersonal way. Ideally with a watch like this you would go in to see it in person first, make your selection and be able to walk out with your choice. If it's being marketed as a watch, it's not unreasonable for customers to expect it to be sold like a watch normally is.
Being told to first make an appointment for a try-on (AFTER most available watches are already sold out) and then to go back to order online is backwards.
There IS poor communication to the customers who did follow the backwards impersonal process Apple stipulated had to be followed. They DID screw up in rewarding those who followed this process well in advance of launch with only a delivery window instead of a launch day or very close to launch day receipt of product. For those saying a delivery window is fair, well perhaps, but it's still not the kind of customer service Apple should be aiming for. It leaves the burden on the customer to try and anticipate and plan for reception of the product without sufficient information to make such plans. The goal of business should be to try to reduce burdens on the customer and make it easy and desirable for us to give them our money!
It's not whining. This is simply discussion of how Apple deviated from their norm in customer service and the subsequent impact on customer satisfaction.
I did get my watch on launch day. I'm one out of only a small percentage of purchasers who did. We still have two watches left on order, one is in processing and the other appears to be preparing to ship, finally, barely in time to be the birthday gift it is intended to be.