The SG delay is exactly why Apple gave a window

[iWot]

I'm annoyed about the delay, but this doesn't indicate that Apple has failed in launching the Apple Watch.

Imagine for a moment that Apple had just given 4/24 as the delivery window, instead of 4/24-5/8. People would be foaming at the mouth. This is exactly why delivery windows exist. Tim Cook is a supply chain/distro guru and knows that ***** happens.

The launch of the apple watch, with 100's of combinations (sizes, colors, faces), manufactured 1000's of miles away, is a huge undertaking, and it's natural that there would be some snags along the way.

Discuss.

 

[kollarc]

I'm annoyed about the delay, but this doesn't indicate that Apple has failed in launching the Apple Watch.

Imagine for a moment that Apple had just given 4/24 as the delivery window, instead of 4/24-5/8. People would be foaming at the mouth. This is exactly why delivery windows exist. Tim Cook is a supply chain/distro guru and knows that ***** happens.

The launch of the apple watch, with 100's of combinations (sizes, colors, faces), manufactured 1000's of miles away, is a huge undertaking, and it's natural that there would be some snags along the way.

Discuss.

I think you have a valid point in just about every case. However, what really irks me is that I was given the same 4/24-5/8 window for my 38mm SG as all the other non-SG ones that got delivered today and yet I have not seen evidence of any 38mm SG being delivered at all yet.

This leads me to believe Apple knew all along these would not be delivered on 4/24 and would have appreciated them to have shown a different window of time. I probably would have purchased a different model knowing I'd be waiting till the tail end of my window for my watch...

 

[water0nmars]

Sure. Fine, makes sense. However, had Apple been more transparent up front about which models needed a window and which were more likely to ship first, I think no one would really have a leg to stand on when complaining because at that point each individual is choosing to be a part of a vague release window for those models versus knowing absolutely nothing going in and hoping ordering in the first 5-10 minutes is good enough to get it on release day as is the case with most everything else they release.

 

[Dmal99]

In 2015 I've never heard of software for manufacturing that doesn't tell you almost exactly what stock you will have and how many orders you have.

I mean, they did it for six models of iPhone 6 over multiple carriers. That's as many SKUs as apple watches. So unless they totally got crap new software that was way worse, there's no way they didn't know.

The only reason Apple did a window is because between announcement and pre-order they suddenly realized one or two models were going to get screwed badly and didn't want to single those out and have mass cancellations. So they made it seem like EVERYONE might get delayed. Unfortunately if manufacturing software were that imprecise companies would be a lot more wasteful. It's classic cover your ass tactics.